Veteran Player, Different Game
by Jedi Master Karzon
Summary: A new age has dawned. New alliances have formed. Old grudges have been forgotten. But darkness looms on the edges of dark space, and it has sworn none shall escape the coming fire... AU post-Halo 3, pre-Mass Effect
1. Chapter 1

**Quick Author's Note: My knowledge of these two universes is rather limited, having played the majority of the Halo games and none of the Mass Effect games, and I am not the best writer, however I will do my best and I hope this story ends up as something resembling OK. Also some statistics are different from the official ones simply because I want them to be. Same applies to timing: I know it goes _really_ quickly but hey, my story my rules. Also this will be told primarily from the Halo universe's perspective. Halo will also drastically outmatch Mass Effect. Deal with it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises?**

Chapter 1: Timeline and Introduction

**2553: **The Human-Covenant War officially ends with the UNSC and the Covenant Separatists as the victors. The Sangheili and UNSC form an alliance. The former Covenant is fractured, becoming little more than pirates and raiders, and are completely disorganised. Admiral Alexander Frederick Halsey is confirmed KIA with his vessel, the _Majestic Night._

**2554: **Intel indicates that the Covenant is reforming, with the various groups seeming to unite under one banner. The Sangheili and UNSC respond by preparing to defend against a possible resurgent Covenant. Captain Christina Jessica Cole, daughter of the deceased Admiral Preston Cole, marries Captain Philip Jonathan Whyte.

**2555:** The so-called New Covenant initiates the New Covenant War by attacking a human colony called Kortan. They are driven off by the timely arrival of Rtas 'Vadum's fleet. Due to the unprovoked intervention of the Sangheili, the majority of the xenophobia against them dissipates. Over the next few months, the New Covenant War is fought, albeit primarily in New Covenant space.

**2556: **The New Covenant War continues into the early months of the year, until the New Covenant capital is discovered with the aid of the newly allied Mgalekgolo. Upon the execution of their leader, the Prophet of Vengeance, the New Covenant splinters. The UNSC and the Sangheili decide to form a united government and invite the Mgalekgolo to join. Together, they found the Confederacy of Unified Free Species (led by a senate). The CUFS capital is a new cooperatively created colony called Unity. The glassing of a planet is declared a War Crime by the CUFS.

**2557:** The Unggoy and Huragok request to join the CUFS. After a month of deliberation, the senate votes in favour of this and so the Unggoy and Huragok join the Confederacy. Construction of a new cooperatively designed class of vessels begins. It has been christened the _Alliance_-class Super Dreadnought. At 40.3 kilometers, it is the largest ship class ever conceived by any member race. All SPARTAN-IIs and SPARTAN-IIIs are posthumously promoted to Commander Grade 2 (or SPARTAN Commander), a unique rank exclusive to them. The only non-SPARTAN given that rank is Franklin Mendez.

**2558:** The Ark is rediscovered, intact. Upon cautious exploration and examination, it is found to be devoid of the Flood and Sentinels. Colonisation begins and the Ark is declared the capital of the CUFS. The separate militaries are reformed into the Confederacy of Unified Free Species Armed Forces, led by Armed Forces Command (or AFComm). The AFComm Council are the twelve highest ranked officers in CUFSAF: five Admirals, five General Field Marshals, the head of Confederacy of Unified Free Systems Intelligence (CUFSI) and the Supreme Commander (currently Lord Terrence Hood). The remains of Onyx are discovered and investigated. The Dyson Sphere is discovered and explored. Exploration teams found Doctor Catherine Halsey, Commander Second Grade Franklin Mendez, Fred-104, Kelly-087, Linda-058, Tom-B292, Lucy-B091, Ash-G099, Olivia-G175 and Mark-G146.

**2559:** An artificial planet is discovered. Examination shows it to be an enormous Forerunner archive known as the Archive. Doctor Catherine Halsey is placed in charge, becoming the first so-called Head Archivist. The SPARTAN-IV Project is launched, using 16 year olds. Mendez and the surviving SPARTANs are to be their trainers. The entire CUFSAF fleet begins to be recalled and refitted with new weapons, armour and technology. The plan is for all shields to be greatly improved, more weapons to be added and the majority of ships to be fitted with at least one of the new MAC. A Halo Ring is discovered and explored. Upon discovery that it is untouched by the Flood, colonisation begins. The Index is moved to the Ark to be secured, the Control Room is secured and a so-called regional Armed Forces command centre is created. Its purpose is to monitor the surrounding region (designated as the Halo's effective radius), making it easier for the Armed Forces to respond to the continuing threat of former Covenant as orders do not need to come all the way from the Ark.

**2560s:** Over the next few years, the CUFS continues to expand and strengthen. The remainder of the Halo Array (including a new Installation 04 and repaired Installation 05) is found, secured and colonised, with regional Armed Forces command centres on each. The "CORTANA Contingency" is created and is used to refer to an outbreak of the Flood. During one such incident in the presence of Lord Hood, he orders the planet in question glassed. Upon consideration, the AFComm Council determines a set of scenarios where glassing is an acceptable action. This is called the "Hood Protocol" in honour of Lord Hood, who retires a few months later. The new CUFSAF Supreme Commander is a Sangheili called Fazn 'Teral. After a particularly vicious Covenant attack, the Colony Defence Act is passed. It requires that each colony have at least one Orbital Defence Platform in orbit. By the end of the decade the majority of the galaxy has been explored and, for the most part, colonised. However, some areas are still under Covenant control

**2570: **During browsing, Dr Halsey findsinformation in the Archive pertaining to something known as the "Intergalactic Tunnel". Upon investigation, it is discovered to be a perfect line between this galaxy and the next, an area where the usual spatial distortions, which exist in both realspace and slipspace, between galaxies are absent. This means that intergalactic travel is a possibility. It is decided that it will be explored at a later time and will be guarded until then. The first _Alliance_-class Super Dreadnought, the _United Stand_, is completed. It is placed under the command of Admiral Whyte, the main proponent behind the _Alliance_-class.

**2571:** The first class of SPARTAN-IVs graduate at age 28 with no casualties. The training of the next class is already well under way. The _United Stand_ completes its maiden tour of CUFS space and moves on to active duty on the frontlines against the remainder of the Covenant. The CUFS senate votes for exploration of the other end of the Intergalactic Tunnel. Preparation begins for an expeditionary fleet to do so.

**2572:** A CUFS expeditionary fleet under escort from Admiral Whyte, the _United Stand_ and approximately 2,000 other military vessels of all types leaves for the Intergalactic Tunnel. With top of the line Slipspace Drives installed, estimates indicate they should arrive in three days. This figure proves accurate, with the fleet arriving at the edge of the other galaxy on schedule. They discover a habitable planet in the first system they travel to and name it Horizon. **(A/N: Original, huh?)**

**2573:** Colonisation of the new system continues whilst other nearby systems are investigated. Numerous other worlds are found to be habitable and are colonised. Eventually, the CUFS finds a structure of unknown origin in one of the nearby systems. Some describe as looking like a giant blue tuning fork. Investigation begins under the guard of two frigates, the _Dawn 'til Dusk _and the _Silent Lament…_

**Onboard the CUFS vessel_ Dawn 'til Dusk_**

"Captain, I-" began the _Dawn 'til Dusk_'s AI, Aileen.

"Wait! This is important!" came the response.

"But-"

"No! Wait!"

Thirty seconds later, Captain George Campbell turned to the AI's avatar port. Captain Campbell was a relatively short, albeit well built, man with red hair that was showing signs of grey even with all the modern anti-aging developments. At 52, Campbell had lived approximately a quarter of the average expected lifespan. It was impossible to be sure, after all it hadn't been nearly 200 years yet so there was no way of knowing for sure but estimations indicated that 200 was to be expected in the future.

"What is so important that you have to interrupt me in the middle of a game of snooker?" he asked the AI with a scowl.

The figure of a beautiful young woman clad in jeans and a tank top reappeared on the port, rolling her eyes.

"Nothing major, just the research vessels reporting that they're going to try and turn on the device," Aileen deadpanned.

"Right then. To the bridge!" Campbell cried.

"Ever the dramatic…" Aileen muttered, shaking her head as she watched the captain run out of the room toward the bridge.

The group of marines in the room chuckled as they packed up the snooker balls before leaving to get ready in case they were needed.

"Anything happening yet?" Campbell asked as he rushed onto the bridge.

"Negative, Captain. They're just bringing it online now, sir," reported his communications officer, Johnson.

"Understood. Get me an open line with the research vessels and the _Silent Lament._ I want weapons online, just in case. Shields at maximum. Evacuate and lockdown all nonessential areas. Double time it!" Campbell barked out, receiving numerous affirmatives in return.

"They're bringing it online in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Activating," reported Johnson.

"Captain! Picking up massive energy readings from it!" reported Garun, his Sangheili sensors operator.

"Keep an eye-" started Campbell, before Garun cut him off.

"Energy spike! Massive one! What the…! Unknown vessels just appeared" Garun called out.

"Captain, it would appear that these vessels appeared with the energy spike. I hypothesize as a result that this is some form of long-range transportation device. Also, the vessels do not match any known designs and have no recognizable IFF," Aileen rattled off.

"So possible first contact? Int-" Campbell broke off as he saw the unknown vessels fire on the research vessels, obliterating two.

Taking a moment to look at them, Campbell noticed that they resembled over sized fighters with a slight resemblance to a bird. The spinal cannon seemed small but had torn apart the research vessels. There were five of them, one larger than the others, obviously the lead ship.

"Return fire! Weapons free! Hit 'em hard, ladies and gentlemen!" Campbell bellowed, reaching for the intercom.

"All hands, man your battle stations! This is not a drill! Repeat, battle stations! We are under fire! This is not a drill!" Campbell's voice blared across the speakers throughout the ship.

The _Dawn_ began repositioning itself, lining up a shot on one of the smaller vessels. On her port side, the _Lament_ was doing the same.

"MAC locked, firing in 3… 2…1… Firing!" the ship shaking as Aileen finished her countdown.

The MAC round streak toward its target on the far right of the enemy formation. What happened next caught all who saw it off guard. The MAC round passed clean through, gutting the vessel from prow to stern, tearing through some form of shielding on its way. Seconds later, a round from the _Lament_ did the same to the leftmost vessel in their formation.

Evidently recovering from their shock, the other vessels opened fire, main guns targeting the _Dawn._ Unable to manoeuvre, the _Dawn_ took all three shots to her prow, shields flaring.

"Damage report!" Campbell demanded.

"Shields down 0.3%, Captain. No hull damage at all," Aileen's voice spoke up.

"Y-y-your joking right?" Campbell stuttered, astonished.

"I don't joke during a combat scenario, Captain. Shields regenerated," Aileen replied.

"Like taking candy from a baby," Summers the navigator chuckled.

"Fire the MAC again. And tell the _Lament_ not to use anything else, keep our true combat prowess hidden," Campbell ordered, grinning.

With that, the _Dawn _shook as its MAC fired into the right vessel, once again gutting it. The _Lament_'s MAC followed suit, destroying the remaining smaller vessel. The remaining ship turned and retreated toward the artefact. Upon approach, it was surrounded by blue light before disappearing.

"Captain, before they fled, I managed to hack their vessel's mainframe. It appears the species is called Turians. They provide the main military strength for the interspecies government they are a part of," Aileen recited, evidently proud of herself.

"Good. I'll head to my quarters, meet me there, tell me what you can and we'll add it to the report. And get me a vidcom line with Captain Naras, we might as well submit a joint report," Campbell ordered as he turned to leave the bridge.

'_This just got a helluva lot more interesting,'_ Campbell thought to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Well this seems popular. I meant to mention in the first chapter that there are in fact much better stories out there and that they acted as inspiration. Check them out; they're good and definitely better than mine. Also I had one reviewer mention Campbell's behaviour as being unprofessional; in relation to the snooker, the examination is going to take a while, they weren't just going to turn it on immediately and nothing was happening so he was relaxing while he had the time and as for the stuttering, if your ship gets hit and it does nothing to the shields, your going to be surprised, no matter how professional you are. I also received a few complaints about how much the CUFS outmatched the Hierarchy; all I can say is I warned you.**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises?**

**Onboard the CUFS vessel _United Stand_**

"So, just to make sure I'm reading your report properly, Captains, you say they fired upon the research vessels?" asked Admiral Whyte.

With her black hair and rather curvaceous figure, Christina Whyte looked more suited to be a fashion model than a military officer. At a glance, she looked far too young to be as high-ranked as she was. Her youthful features gave her the appearance of a twenty year old as opposed to her actual 75 years. The only indication that she wasn't twenty was the grey streaks appearing in amongst the black. Currently, she was standing in her office on the _United Stand_, a scowl marring her features.

"That is correct, Admiral. They opened fire before we had any indication of their intention," spoke the holographic form of the Sangheili, Captain Naras of the _Silent Lament._

"I see. But your report indicates that shields were virtually unaffected by their weapons. Is that incorrect?" the Admiral demanded, arching an eyebrow.

"No, ma'am. The research vessels' shields were inactive and the shots tore clean through the hull," Campbell's holographic form supplied.

"And what can you tell me of the vessels of these Turians?" Christina asked.

"Only what is contained within our report, ma'am. They're vessels are greatly outmatched by ours, smaller too. My AI was able to hack their systems without any issues; she says their cyber defences were easier to bypass than those of any military system she knows of. They also appear to be part of a greater interspecies government," Campbell recited.

"They also appeared to have no fighters of any kind, and if they did, they didn't launch them," Naras added.

"Understood. More ships are inbound to your location in case they return. Well done, both of you. Now then, Naras, I'm afraid that Sanghelios has requested your return immediately. After I denied them, they took it up with the senate, who overruled me I'm afraid. You're going to have to leave at once," Christina told him, regretfully.

"I understand. It is a shame, I would always rather be on the frontlines but we cannot always decide such things ourselves. If you will excuse me, I will go at once. Admiral Whyte, Captain Campbell," he said, snapping off salutes to both, which they returned, before his hologram winked out of existence.

"Now then, the ships that are joining you need a leader. As the only officer available with experience against these Turians, you're being placed in command. Congratulations, Rear Admiral. There is a new ship waiting for you in the new shipyards above Horizon. It is hot off the construction line, with no crew or AI, so you're free to take your current crew and Aileen, was it?" the Admiral informed him with a smile.

"Understood, ma'am. But what about Naras? He is just as responsible as I am for our victory," Campbell said.

"Indeed, that is why he has been promoted as well. He will be notified when he arrives. I will rendezvous with you above Horizon to finalise a few things. Hold position until the reinforcements arrive, then come and join me. Any questions?" Christina asked.

"No, ma'am," Campbell replied, saluting.

"Very well. Dismissed, Rear Admiral," Whyte said, returning Campbell's salute.

Deactivating the holographic communicator (or VidComm), Christina sat back in her chair. Sighing, she began typing a message to the senate informing them Naras was on his way. Upon sending it, she stood and walked to the screen that dominated one wall. It was currently displaying the view from one of the outside cameras, showing the planet Horizon.

"Admiral, the fleet has arrived at the object and Campbell is en route. He should arrive in a few minutes," came the voice of the ship's AI, Candon.

"Thank you, Candon. Prepare a Pelican for me, I'll go over momentarily," she replied, glancing at the portly man on the holopad.

Candon's avatar was that of an overweight, middle-aged man with short, red hair and full beard. He wore a white lab coat over a suit, giving him the appearance of a scientist. He nodded to the Admiral before disappearing.

Christina turned back to the window, wondering how much there was to find in this galaxy.

**Onboard the CUFS vessel _Dawn 'til Dusk_**

"Exiting slipspace in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Entering realspace," Summers reported from the navigators chair.

With that, the _Dawn _re-emerged into realspace above the planet Horizon. Due to Horizon being the first discovered system, it became the unofficial hub of the CUFS in this galaxy. As a result, there was a great deal of orbital traffic around. As a military vessel, the _Dawn_ was unaffected, being permitted to bypass the queues of civilian vessels. As it rounded the planet, they came into sight of the orbital shipyards that had been constructed above Horizon.

"Beginning approach now. All hands, prepare to dock," Aileen reported over the intercom.

The frigate slowly moved into one of the docking bays, shuddering slightly as it did so. With a final shudder, the _Dawn_ came to rest in the bay as docking tubes joined onto the various exterior hatches.

**On the shipyard above Horizon**

Campbell stepped out of the security room into the main body of the shipyard. Looking out of a nearby window he saw numerous ships, of all classes and types, being constructed in the shipyard.

"Impressive sight, isn't it?" came a voice from beside him.

Jumping slightly, Campbell turned to the source of the voice to find Admiral Whyte standing to his left, a slight smile on her face as she gazed out over the shipyard. Campbell immediately stood to attention, snapping off a salute.

"At ease, Rear Admiral. Come, walk with me," she said after returning the salute.

With that, they started off down the corridor. After a few minutes in silence, the Admiral turned her head slightly to face Campbell.

"Thank you for joining me. You're new ship is being prepared as we speak. Aileen is being transferred, as is your crew, officially anyway. We'll give you time to transfer all your belongings to the new ship."

"Thank you, Admiral. Is there anything I should know about the ship?" Campbell asked, curious as to what to expect.

"Not really. Nothing unusual anyway. Everything should be familiar to someone such as yourself," Whyte said, stopping at a window.

"Where is it? If you don't mind, I'd like to get to know my ship," he said, ignoring the window.

"Well then, you might want to look out the window," she quipped, smirking.

With that, Campbell turned to the window. What he saw amazed him. Sitting in the bay before him was one of the new, top-of-the-line CUFS super carriers. The almost 30 kilometre long vessel had retained much of its original design, still resembling the dreaded Covenant vessel, however it now also sported a pair of spinal Magnetic Accelerator Cannons and was the grey favoured by the CUFS instead of the purple of the Covenant. There were, of course, other differences but they were more subtle or internal. The words on the side identified it as the_ Dawn of Night._

"Wow! You telling me that that is my new ship?" Campbell asked, astonished that he was being given such a big ship to command.

"Indeed, Rear Admiral. The _Dawn of Night_ should be suitable. It sports top-notch weaponry, shielding and sensors. She's a beauty, that's for sure," Whyte commented.

"Well then, I'll go familiarize myself with the ship, if you don't mind, Admiral?" Campbell said.

"Of course. I'm sorry to do this, but you have two hours to get ready. After that I want you back in the field. Questions?" Whyte asked.

"Only where the entrance is," he said, grinning.

Two hours later, the _Dawn of Night_ pulled out of the shipyard. It turned its prow toward its destination and accelerated into slipspace.

"Good luck, Rear Admiral, although I hope you don't need it," Admiral Whyte muttered, watching the _Night _accelerate into slipspace.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Wow! Third chapter in four days. Actually, just the fact that there are three chapters is worthy of a wow in my opinion. One (or more, I don't know, my e-mail's down) review mentioned that twenty years wasn't long enough for the UNSC to recover, never mind expand. I did say it would go quickly. Also, in relation to the holographic communicator, think of the Illusive Man's communicator. It shows the ranking officer's room as their location. The SAT mentioned in this chapter is Standard Ark Time and is the CUFS equivalent of GMT. Thanks to all who read this story, even more so to those who review. Now that you're all bored, I'll let you read this chapter.**

**Onboard the CUFS vessel _Dawn of Night_**

"Rear Admiral Campbell, we've arrived. All ships are in a blockade formation around the Relay," stated Aileen.

"Right. I'll be on the bridge in just a moment, I'll just get dressed," came Campbell's muffled voice from under the bedcovers.

"Understood. If you need me, just call," the AI chirped, before winking out.

Campbell sat up in his bed, throwing the bedcovers aside and glancing at his alarm clock. Quarter to seven in the morning, SAT. Grabbing his towel, he marched into his small bathroom to get ready.

At eight on the dot, Campbell marched onto the bridge. He was once again caught off guard slightly by the size of the room in comparison to his old bridge. It was at least one and a half times the size after all. He walked up to the middle of the bridge, returning the salutes he received from the crew, before taking his place in the captain's chair.

"Status report," he demanded.

"All other ships are green and have kept their weapons hot," reported Johnson.

"Weapons are primed to fire at a moment's notice. Shields are at maximum strength. Green across the board," reported his new Sangheili weapons officer, Faren (someone, somewhere down the line had decided that a big ship like this needed a weapons officer, unlike a frigate).

"No activity from the Relay, scans read green across the system," Garun continued.

"Moving into position now," reported Summers.

"All other systems are reporting green as well, Rear Admiral," added Aileen.

"Good. Bring us into formation and tell all ships to keep a sharp eye, they will almost certainly be back," ordered Campbell.

A good three hours passed, with everyone sitting waiting for something out of the ordinary. It wasn't until the fourth hour that anything changed.

"Admiral, we've got activity from the Relay. Not much but it suggests that something could be happening," Garun called across the bridge.

"Understood. Johnson, tell all other ships to prepare for combat. Faren, get ready to set targets at a moment's notice. Aileen, lockdown all hatches, evacuate all non-essential areas and lock them down. Summers, prepare for evasive manoeuvres. Garun, sensors at peak sensitivity, all available cameras on the Relay in case they can evade sensors. Triple time it, people!" Campbell barked out, sending the bridge crew scrambling to obey.

"All ships ready and waiting on your command, sir," said Johnson.

"Hold fire until I give the order. If negotiators come through or any other civilian vessel, I don't want to shoot it down. If that happens we detain only, not destroy," Campbell commanded.

For nearly ten minutes, the fleet of thirty CUFS ships waited, primed to engage instantly. Then, the Relay lit up like a Christmas tree, launching fifty Turian ships into the system. All of them were clearly designed for combat, with most of them (twenty-five) being the same smaller ships as before (frigates), along with fifteen of the larger vessels (destroyers). The remaining vessels comprised seven larger vessels (cruisers), with three even larger vessels accompanying them (dreadnoughts).

Immediately, the vessels fanned out, firing as they did so. A few shots found their mark, whilst most sailed wide of their evading targets.

"All ships, this is Rear Admiral Campbell. Fire at will! And remember, try to avoid using anything other than your MACs," Campbell shouted into the fleet-wide communication.

With that, thirty ship-mounted MAC rounds were fired at the hostile fleet. Twenty-three shots found their mark, obliterating fourteen frigates, six destroyers, two cruisers and a dreadnought. The remaining vessels then concentrated their fire onto one of the CUFS frigates, dropping its shields by twenty-five percent before the CUFS was able to fire another volley.

This time only twelve shots hit their mark, destroying five frigates, four destroyers and three cruisers. The other shots went wide when the ships manoeuvred out of their path. The remaining vessels continued to fire on the frigate, dropping her shields by another 10%. The next salvo from the CUFS ships failed to destroy a single Turian ship, with a single shot connecting in a glancing blow on one of the dreadnoughts.

"All ships, this is Campbell. Time to show a second card in our hand; launch plasma torpedoes! Blow 'em to hell!" ordered Campbell.

The CUFS ships fired as one, launching thirty plasma torpedoes at the remaining fifteen Turian ships. The Turian vessels manoeuvred slightly to avoid the torpedoes, obviously believing them to be similar to an MAC round. By the time they realised the torpedoes had adjusted course, it was too late for most.

Five of the remaining six frigates took the shots straight to prow, the plasma simply passing through the shields. The five destroyers fared no better, collapsing explosively as their decks suddenly depressurized. The two cruisers survived the first impact, albeit with significant hull damage. The second impact, however, was too much for both, as they buckled after their hull was breached. The dreadnoughts meanwhile, appeared almost unaffected by the first and second hits. When one of the dreadnoughts took a third shot, this time to the lower rear of the ship however, it was vaporised as (unknown to the CUFS) its mass effect core was destabilized.

The remaining two vessels, of the once fifty strong fleet, turned and fled toward the Relay, disappearing in a flash of light.

"Get me a full status report from all ships, I want them in my office in an hour so that I can submit a report to Admiral Whyte. Also, inform me should anything occur, I'll be in my office," Campbell barked.

A number of responses of "Aye, sir" came from around the bridge. With that, Campbell stood from his chair and walked off the bridge, toward his office.

As he left, Campbell heard Summers say to the rest of the bridge crew, "Looks like shit hit the fan."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Bloody hell I'm writing a lot at the moment. I've just got so much free time and so many ideas of what to do with this story. No action here. Just talk and nothing of Rear Admiral George Campbell (who has gone further than I'd originally thought because he's so popular). It will concentrate on Admiral Christina Whyte after the battle of the last chapter (known as the Battle of the Relay). It should offer more insight into her (she'll be more important later) as well as (hopefully) advance the story (more fighting next time). Enjoy (if possible).**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises?**

**Onboard the CUFS vessel _United Stand_**

Christina sighed in frustration as she looked down on Horizon from her window **(A/N it's the view screen from earlier but I'm just calling it a window now)**. Campbell's report of the engagement at the Relay was detailed, with the reports of the individual captains' reports attached. It also proved without a doubt that the vessels of the CUFS far outmatched those of their Turian enemy. After all, a CUFS fleet could destroy a Turian fleet almost twice their own size. They outmatched the Turians far more than the Covenant had outmatched the UNSC.

Then there was also the data that had been recovered from one of the more intact wrecks. It provided a complete dictionary of the Turian language. This meant that any communiqués that were intercepted could be translated.

It also meant that the other piece of data could be understood.

For from the wreckage, some navigational details had also been recovered. It allowed the location of a pair of Turian colonies to be identified. It was this data that caused her distress.

Upon receiving the report, the CUFS senate had immediately called for a counter attack against the Turians. Christina, however, was not in favour of taking such action. It not only meant heading what could be deep into enemy territory. It also, far more worryingly in her opinion, meant that civilians would almost certainly be caught in the crossfire.

Military casualties, the Admiral could deal with. The men and women had signed up knowing the risks. Civilians weren't prepared for fighting, weren't used to seeing death. Sure rookies were the same but they were prepared to see death so that they wouldn't be so affected by it. Admiral Christina Whyte would do many things to win but if civilians were involved she would willingly lose as long as the civilians survived, no matter who those civilians were.

However, even a member of the AFComm Council lacked the authority to go against the senate. Hence she was in the process of planning a two-pronged assault against the Turian colonies. The target systems had been designated Turian Colony Alpha and Turian Colony Bravo. Rear Admiral Campbell would be leading the assault against Bravo, so she would leave the majority of the plans to him. However, she would personally be leading the assault against Alpha.

This, of course, meant that she had far more work to do than usual. Planning the battle was hard; they had no intel on the targets, besides their locations. As a result, they would be going in blind and would need to be prepared to adjust the plan as necessary. It also meant that no detailed plan could be made.

Sometimes Christina Jessica Cole Whyte, Admiral of the CUFS, really hated her job.

Two hours later, Christina sat back from her desk, plan complete. She sighed, content that she had done all she could at this point. She stood, walking over to her window at Horizon. After a while, Christina turned to leave, intending to visit the mess hall. Before she could reach the door however, the holopad in her office flickered on.

"Admiral Whyte, the _Splendid Dawn_ just arrived in system. Do you want me to tell Captain Whyte to come over, as usual?" Candon asked from his pedestal.

"Yes, of course. I'm not about miss an opportunity to see my husband, now am I? Really, Candon, I thought you were meant to be a smart AI," Christina remarked.

"Ha ha very funny. I'll call him," Candon answered, before his avatar vanished.

With both of them serving on different ships these days, Christina and her husband, Philip, saw very little of each other. In fact, the only time they really had time together was when they were on leave (which they always tried to ensure was simultaneous). On the rare occasion that they did meet otherwise, they were usually only able to spend a day or two together.

Christina was broken out of these thoughts by Candon's voice.

"The captain is on his way. He'll be here shortly. Hangar Bravo-7, by the way," Candon told her.

"Thank you, Candon. Now remember, only come to me if it's an emergency. I don't want to be interrupted unnecessarily," she told the AI as she walked out of the room.

"Of course, Admiral. Enjoy your night."

With that the pedestal went dark again as she ran out of the room. Reaching the stairs, she ran down them so fast a SPARTAN would have struggled to keep up. In a matter of moments, Christina had reached Hangar B-7. She ran in just in time to see Captain Philip Whyte step off the Pelican. He was a relatively tall man as well as well built and muscular. He was a handsome man, his handsomeness not reduced by the scar that ran from just above his right eye to the bottom of his left cheek. His sandy coloured hair, like hers, was just beginning to contain streaks of grey.

With a slight squeal of delight, Christina ran across the hangar before leaping into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and crashing her lips to his. After a while, when they felt the need to come up for air, he set her down again.

"I'm glad to see you too, love, but how about we move this to your cabin?" he said with a glance around the hangar.

Upon doing the same, Christina realized that all the people in the hangar were chuckling or, in the case of a few newer crewmen, staring in shock. She felt a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. Nodding hurriedly, she began dragging Philip off toward her cabin.

Needless to say, Admiral Christina Jessica Cole Whyte did no more work that night.

The next morning, Christina awoke to the sound of the shower running. Sitting up, she glanced at her alarm clock, which told her it was 8:30 in the morning. Sighing, she climbed out of bed, grabbing a glass of water from the nearby table and draining it. She walked over into her office, turning on her terminal as she sat down in front of it. Opening her messages, she began scanning through them and, finding nothing interesting or important, deleted them all.

Just as she was preparing to get up, she felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her shoulders. Looking up, she found herself face-to-face with the grinning features of her husband. Placing a kiss on his lips, she leant back into his embrace. After a while, he removed his arms.

"You do need to get washed and dressed, honey," he gave by way of an explanation at her moan of disappointment.

With a groan, she stood and, grabbing a towel, wandered into the bathroom. Shortly, she emerged again, still drying her hair. Walking over to her wardrobe, she grabbed on of her uniforms. She threw him one of his as well (being married, they kept some of the other's clothes on their ship).

Once properly clothed, they walked down to the mess hall to grab some breakfast. After another hour together, Philip was forced to return to the _Splendid Dawn_.

After the departure of the _Dawn_, Admiral Whyte retreated to her office to finalise the details of the plan. Within one hour, she was done. As she marched onto the bridge, the bridge crew snapped to attention.

With a final check of all systems, the forty strong CUFS fleet disappeared into slipspace, en route to Turian Colony Alpha. Simultaneously, Rear Admiral Campbell's newly formed fleet, also forty ships strong, set of for Turian Colony Bravo.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Hello again. So much love for this story. It makes me so happy and so motivated. Now then, on to business. I received the idea in the reviews to do a chapter from the Citadel's perspective. As Alec McDowell put it, "to see their freak outs over the ease with which they are being defeated". In such chapters, it will be done from the perspective of the Asari councillor, Tevos. So this is the first of those chapters. It will be happening concurrent with the last chapter. The colonies mentioned here are actual Turian colonies, although they're probably further apart but I can't be bothered finding out. Time to see how much of a headache the Council and their allies are getting from the fighting so far…**

**On the Citadel, Council Tower**

Tevos was not having a good day.

First there was an issue with the Batarians' trading agreement. Then the Systems Alliance, the newest player in the galaxy, was proposing that they aid the Hierarchy in keeping the peace. Needless to say, it had not gone over well with the new Turian councillor, Sparatus.

The day was not improved by the fact that the Turian Hierarchy had apparently begun a war with another unknown civilisation, a mere six years after the end of the so-called First Contact War with humanity.

"I must have misheard you, Sparatus. Did you say that you engaged them without provocation?" Tevos asked, shocked.

"Our ships had every provocation. The unknown race had activated a dormant Mass Relay, by Council law we had to step in," Sparatus claimed.

"Yet you immediately opened hostilities with them, instead of attempting diplomacy. And then when your patrol fleet was bested, you went back with more and were bested again. And now you want to try again? If it doesn't work the first two times, what makes you think it will work the third time? If you're outnumbered…" Tevos began.

"We weren't!"

"What?" Seliron, the Salarian councillor, asked.

"First engagement they had two frigates facing four Turian frigates and a destroyer. Only the destroyer returned. The second time, twenty-five frigates, fifteen destroyers, seven cruisers and three dreadnoughts went to face them. That would be more than enough to deal with two frigates. A single frigate and one dreadnought returned," Sparatus recounted from the report in front of him.

"Two frigates destroyed that many ships? Impossible," Seliron shouted, waving a hand in dismissal.

"Indeed. But thirty ships evidently can. Especially when the largest on present apparently measured almost thirty kilometres in length," Sparatus retorted.

"Thirty kilometres?" Tevos exclaimed, horrified.

"If the reports are accurate, yes. All their ships appear to have extremely strong shields and their weapons were apparently extremely potent. They primarily used a vastly more powerful version of our MACs, capable of gutting a vessel in a single shot, including a dreadnought. It gets worse" Sparatus told his fellows, when he noticed their horrified expressions.

"Worse? How can it be worse?" Tevos spluttered.

"They also had weapons capable of bypassing our shields and burning through the hull of the vessel. The shots were also apparently guided," Sparatus said.

"This is just fantastic; we're dealing with a civilization that seems to outmatch us at every turn," Seliron shouted, raising his arms in anger.

Just then, one Sparatus' aides ran up to him and muttered something to him, to which he nodded. Turning back to the other councillors, they saw a frown upon his face.

"We've lost contact with the neighbouring colonies of Invictus and Quadim. A scout ship is being set to both to investigate," Sparatus told the other councillors.

"I hope that it is mere coincidence but I cannot help but think that this new civilization may be involved. Good luck to your colonies if it is," Tevos informed Sparatus.

With that, Tevos turned and departed the Council Tower. Upon reaching the exterior, she encountered numerous members of the various news companies. Unfortunately, they noticed her instantly and immediately began shouting questions to her, mainly concerning the rumours that the Turians had been bested in an engagement by an unknown culture.

Oh yes, Tevos was not having a good day.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: And back to the CUFS. This chapter will cover at least the space battle above Turian Colony Alpha (Quadim). I will be inventing terrain, appearance, cities and the like myself (yay more unimaginative names). Next chapter will be the ground battle on Quadim (unless it does get included here). I'm not sure if I'll do Campbell's battle at Invictus, but tell me in a review what you think. I might do it if enough people tell me I should. Now then, onward to battles, Turians getting their asses handed to them on a platter and tactical genius of Admiral Whyte (if I manage to write her like that).**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises? (I keep forgetting this)**

**Onboard the CUFS vessel _United Stand_**

Admiral Christina Whyte was stood on the bridge of the _United Stand_ as she dropped out of slipspace, followed by the ships in the fleet. As soon as the emerged, ten of them moved on the Relay moving into a blockade formation around the Relay. As the forty CUFS ships appeared in orbit above Alpha's planetary neighbour, the twelve Turian vessels above Alpha fell into obvious disarray. Outnumbered by over one to three, the Turian vessels stood no chance.

Two of their four destroyers fled toward the Relay accompanied by four frigates. The remaining two destroyers and four frigates formed as good a defensive line as they could above Alpha. The fleeing vessels were intercepted as they attempted to flee, being destroyed in a salvo of plasma torpedoes.

"Brave of them, or just stupid. Take them down," Christina commanded, indicating the six remaining ships.

'Shame. They were evidently good soldiers, not breaking down and running like their fellows,' Christina thought as she watched the six ships open fire before they were destroyed.

"Move into blockade formation around the planet. Don't let anything through," Christina ordered into the fleet-wide intercom.

As the thirty ships now in orbit moved to obey, a single small vessel flew up out of the atmosphere. A small freighter by the looks of it, it appeared undeterred by the thirty ships in orbit. It continued on its path until it disappeared in a fireball after it had an unfortunate encounter with a plasma torpedo after it failed to respond to hails.

"Get the ODSTs, SPARTANs and SpecOps down there now. Tell them to clear out any anti-air equipment and then we'll send in the drop ships. And remember, no civilian casualties," she told the other captains.

Within minutes, hundreds of HEVs and OIPs were dropping down to the planet below. The atmosphere flared around them, hiding them in wreaths of flame. On the planet below, the Turians stood and gazed in awe upon what they believed to merely be pieces of debris. The military, believing this just like everyone else, made no attempts to shoot down what looked to be simple debris.

The drop itself was the best part of an operation as far as Gunnery Sergeant Alicia Williamson was concerned. She was just sad she couldn't let the wind fly through her red hair like she did when base jumping back in the old days. Checking once again that her equipment was secure, she looked out at the alien planet. It's green plains spanned from horizon to horizon, with the only difference being a single small city that was her squad's target. She turned on her communicator, tuning it to the squad frequency.

"Listen up, girls. The city below is our destination. Intercepted communications indicate that there is a small garrison here. They are not our concern, at least not yet. Our objective is the AA gun in the southeast of the city. We take that down and the marines can come in with their toys and mope up the garrison," she told her squad.

"Assuming there's any left once we're done," Private Alexandra Daniels quipped.

"Pay attention, Alex. We're not going after the garrison," interjected Private Fiona Carmichael.

"I know, but they'll probably come for us," Alex retorted.

"They're not gonna send a whole bloody garrison to do it though. We're one squad not an army," responded Private Jessica Collins.

"Cut the chatter, you three. Check course. Try and land near the rest of us this time, Alex," remarked Alicia.

With that, the line went silent as they all double-checked their heading. Shortly after, five HEVs impacted just outside the city, all within a hundred metres of each other. Out of them climbed the five-woman ODST squad; Gunnery Sergeant Alicia Williamson, Private Jessica Collins, Private Alexandra Daniels, Private Fiona Carmichael and Private Elizabeth Miller. Grouping together, they moved into the city. For the majority of their journey, nothing happened. They stuck to the shadows, avoiding the eyes of the Turian civilians milling about.

Then they reached the AA gun.

The Turian soldiers had set up a perimeter around it, not that anyone was walking close to it anyway, with the civilians staying at least five metres from the perimeter. This meant that not only were there lots of possible civilian casualties, there was also a large open area where there would be no cover. Alicia signalled for Elizabeth, the team sniper, to take up a position on a small nearby building. Elizabeth nodded once, and then ran up the fire escape on the side to the top of the building. The rest of the squad spread out in the shadows, covering all angles.

"Three… Two… One… Go!" Alicia muttered into her communicator.

As one, the ODSTs on the ground stepped forward into the crowd, which almost immediately parted. Once the crowd realized that the figures were armed, there was chaos. Civilians started running around madly in an attempt to escape what was obviously about to become the location of a firefight. The Turian soldiers guarding the AA gun went onto high alert scanning the area for hostiles, but the ODSTs had already shrunk back into the shadows, black armour rendering them nigh invisible.

It took almost five minutes for the civilians to be completely gone. And that was when the ODSTs struck.

All of a sudden, four black figures charged from the shadows, assault rifles blazing. The Turians, caught off guard by the squads strike, took almost a minute to take cover and return fire, by which time the ODSTs had dropped five of them. One of the soldiers who had ducked behind a storage crate suddenly collapsed, much to the surprise of his fellows, having taken a bullet from Elizabeth's sniper rifle between his eyes. Another three followed him, each catching a shot between the eyes.

Alicia continued her charge unhindered due to Elizabeth's covering fire. In a few short moments, she had reached the supply crates the Turians were using as cover. Diving over it, she turned and started shooting at the Turians behind the crate. Turning she opened fire on the soldiers behind other crates. By the time she ducked behind cover to reload, her shields had dropped to 40%. Giving her shields a moment to recharge, she stepped back out of cover before spraying a Turian with bullets.

With a final burst of assault rifle fire, the last Turian soldier fell and the motion sensor was quiet. Fiona jogged over to the AA gun, producing a charge as she did so. Attaching it to the gun, she signalled the others to leave. As the squad walked away, Fiona handed the detonator to Alicia.

"Burn, baby, burn," Alicia muttered as she pressed the detonator.

As they walked off down the alley, there was an explosion behind them, signalling the destruction of the gun. Meanwhile, off in the distance, a group of drop ships could be seen on approach to the city.

'Mission accomplished,' thought Christina with a smirk.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: So far, no one has requested Campbell's battle, so it won't be in this chapter. Tell me if it should be in the next, because otherwise it will just be spoken of instead of actually told. As for this chapter, it shows the aftermath of the Battle of Quadim. Should be interesting (maybe). Also, the Marines now include members from all species of the CUFS. Sorry about the short chapter (even by my standards). On with the story…**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises?**

**On the surface of the Turian colony of Quadim**

As the Pelican touched down in a town square, Admiral Whyte looked out at the town. She had seen the images from before the battle and it had looked rather beautiful, even with the skyscrapers. Now, however, there wasn't a skyscraper to be seen.

After the ODSTs had taken out the AA gun, the CUFS Marines had swooped in to engage the local garrison. It was during this that the skyscrapers had fallen, apparently by the Turians doing. She had seen some footage from the battle and she was inclined to agree that it was the Turians who had brought the structures down.

Still, the CUFS had emerged triumphant with minimal losses. Civilian casualties had been all but avoided.

There was however one concern. One of the Turians had displayed some form of telekinetic abilities, throwing a number of marines around like rag dolls. Not that these abilities proved effective against the Mgalekgolo that had killed him. It was still concerning, however.

Checking her pistol one last time, Christina stepped down onto the tarmac, flanked by two SPARTAN-IVs and two Sangheili Zealots. The leader of the force in charge of taking the city walks toward her, the Sangheili equivalent of a smile on his face.

"Admiral, the Turians have been bested, what forces they have left have been captured and this city is ours," Commander Greth informed her, saluting.

"Good work, Commander. Anything I should be aware of?" asked Christina, having returned the salute.

"No, Admiral. Nothing unusual to report, except the telekinetic mentioned in my report. Everything is as expected," commented Greth.

"Good, I hate complications. Have the Huragok managed to get anything from their systems yet?" she asked as they began walking.

"Not yet. It would appear that their systems on the ground are harder to hack than their ships'. I'm told it should only be another few minutes," he answered.

As she was about to respond, they both turned toward a piece of nearby debris.

"Did you hear that?" Greth asked, glancing at the Admiral.

"Yep. Come on, let's see what it was."

Moving closer, they were able to recognize the sound as a voice. More specifically, a voice crying for help.

"Let's move this, we need to get them out of there," Christina ordered.

Moving forward, Christina, Greth and the two SPARTANs gripped the piece of concrete. At the Admiral's word, the four of them pushed the debris up and out of the way. Underneath, they found what was obviously a child as well as a Turian soldier, who had been badly wounded by a pipe through his abdomen.

"Medic! We've got an injured over here! Get a move on, I don't think he's going to last much longer!" one of the SPARTANs shouted to the medical team.

"Shit! This isn't good. We need to get him into surgery. SPARTAN, lift him off carefully," the lead medic told one of the SPARTANs, who hastened to obey.

Upon the Turian being placed onto a stretcher, the medics immediately injected biofoam into his body. They then went about preparing various monitors and life support systems before rushing him to a nearby Pelican. One of the nearby marines had come over and was doing her best to comfort the child, before leading him off to find his mother.

"Poor kid, having to see something like that," Christina murmured, regretfully.

"I agree. No child should be forced to witness something like that. It is sad when the young are affected by the wars of their elders," Greth replied, frowning.

"Unfortunately, that is the price of war a lot of the time; all are affected by it whether they know it or not. Now then, your report mentioned that you had a prisoner who wasn't Turian?" she asked him.

"Indeed, follow me," Greth replied, beginning to walk.

After a short time, they reached an abandoned warehouse that was being used to hold prisoners. Walking in, they turned down a short corridor instead of proceeding to the main chamber. Continuing up some stairs, they continued along until they reached a door with two Sangheili guarding it. Upon entering, Christina was caught of guard by the prisoner's appearance.

The being before her looked like a female human, except that she had some form of head tails instead of hair and had blue skin. She was just sitting staring into the distance, clearly contemplating something.

Upon Christina's entrance, however, the being turned her gaze to the Admiral.

"Greetings. How can I help you?" the woman asked Christina in slightly accented English.

"You can speak English?" Christina asked, shocked.

"Indeed. I pride myself on my linguistics. I know the majority of languages in the galaxy. I find it an odd coincidence that you use English as well," the being commented.

"Not to sound rude, but who and what are you?" Christina asked.

"Perfectly understandable, I haven't introduced myself. I am Vareena Korla. I'm an Asari," she told Christina.

"Well, Miss Korla, we appear to have a lot to discuss," Christina said, taking a seat opposite Korla.

"I'll tell you what I can. My kind is not fond of conflict, unlike the Turians," Korla responded, smiling slightly.

'Glad she's going to cooperate. Makes question time so much easier,' Christina thought, making herself more comfortable.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: Hello again, it's been a while. School started again so that got in the way, but it's almost the summer holidays (yay!) so expect more updates then. Until then, I'll try to fit in writing but it may not happen. Some people mentioned the fact that only the Asari (Vareena Korla) reacted to the presence of humans. The CUFS ground forces were wearing full body armour and there was no other visual contact, so of course the Turians didn't realize they were dealing with humans (in part). Now then I've also had people requesting that I write "question time" between Admiral Christina Whyte and Vareena Korla. However, I would rather get on with the story, otherwise we'd have at least one chapter of the two of them just talking. Vareena will only be explaining the basics to Christina (i.e. the Citadel, the species, the Relays etc.), so that doesn't really need to be explained. This chapter will pick up from immediately after this conversation. It will also include the description of Vareena's clothes that was missing from the last chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises?**

**On the surface of the Turian colony of Quadim**

Christina stood up from her seat after Vareena finished talking. Walking over to the window, she looked out over the city.

"And this is all true? All accurate?" Christina asked, turning back to the Asari.

"Indeed. After all, what do I have to gain from withholding information? I want this war over, and soon. You have said wish to avoid unnecessary deaths and as I have said, launching an assault against the Citadel and holding it to ransom would allow a peaceful resolution," responded Vareena.

"OK then. I must admit though I find the differences and similarities between our civilizations astounding. Humans in two galaxies with an identical history up until the development of space flight. It's incredible," Christina remarked.

"I agree. However it may have something to do with these Forerunners you mentioned. After all, you said they enjoyed acting god," Vareena pointed out.

"Good point. I'll get Dr. Halsey to look into it. Now then, I am going to return to my ship. And you will be joining me," the Admiral said.

"Of course. I'm curious to see your ships."

**On Pelican D-153 en route to the CUFS vessel _United Stand_**

"This is a far better design for a combat vessel. It actually sports a large array of weapons. The drop ships used by us sport very few weapons, needing to be supported by fighters and gun ships. But this is both a drop ship and a gun ship. So efficient. I love it," Vareena prattled, looking around the troop bay of the Pelican.

The quartet of SPARTANs and Sangheili on escort duty looked at each other in confusion. Admiral Whyte just leaned her head back against the bulkhead with a sigh.

"Just wait until you see our battleships. Then you can be impressed," one of the Sangheili remarked, earning a chuckle from the two SPARTANs and a grin from the other Sangheili.

"What do you mean? I'm sure they're – Goddess, what is that?" Vareena yelled as she looked out of the front of the cockpit at one of the ten-kilometre carriers.

"That's a carrier. And isn't our destination," one of the SPARTANs said, correctly guessing her next question.

"Well, what is our destination?" Vareena demanded.

"That is our destination. The _United Stand_," the pilot told the awestruck Asari, indicating the forty kilometre vessel in front of them.

To snickers from the rest of the group, the Asari could only sit there gaping as they approached the giant ship. Her expression remained unchanged when they landed in a hangar that looked like it could have held a Turian frigate and still have room for a few drop ships. As she stepped down onto the deck, she noticed the lack of usual slight hum of the engines.

"This is incredible. How can you not hear the engines?" Vareena asked, turning to the Admiral.

However, it was not the Admiral who answered.

"Young lady, you are almost thirty-three kilometres from the engines. Of course you can't hear them."

Turning, Vareena found herself face-to-face with a hologram. Candon bowed slightly to her before introducing himself to her, after which she introduced herself.

"Two things though. One, a ship of this size would need massive engines to move at all, never mind at any sensible speed. Second, 681 is hardly young," Vareena retorted.

"OK then. Two things. One, evidently our ships operate differently so we can't apply our standards to the other's ships. Second, you look extremely good for your age, Ms Korla. Many women would die for a figure like yours," Candon answered, looking the curvaceous, relatively scantily clad, and now blushing, Asari up and down.

It was true. She was, as humans so eloquently put it, fucking hot. Her attire did little to hide that. She was clad in knee-high black high-heeled boots and black half-thigh length shorts (seemingly hard **(A/N think hard suit)**). A white, solid top that was exceedingly low cut, sleeveless, strapless and went to just below her breasts, with a large gap at the front, putting her cleavage in full view was all that was covering the top half of her body. Over the top of that, she wore a calf-length black coat.

"Asari not only age slower than most species but also live longer, usually living for about a thousand years. And if we do move against the Citadel, you'll have to make yourself seem a lot dumber. AIs are illegal in Citadel space and not everyone is as understanding as me. The only reason I've not freaked is that I was forewarned and notified of some of the basic history of AIs in the UNSC and then CUFS. And I've seen a lot in my time as an Asari Commando; being one of the best fighting forces in the galaxy means you see a lot of the galaxy," Vareena explained.

"Quite. Now then, shall we head to the bridge and prepare to set course for the Citadel?" Christina said.

"Indeed. Lead on, Admiral!" Vareena cried with a grin.

Chuckling, Christina led the way out of the hangar toward the bridge.

'Time to finish this,' she thought to herself.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: This is not a proper chapter, this is another interlude with the Citadel Council, once again from Tevos viewpoint (sort of).**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what makes you think I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises?**

Once again, Tevos was not having a good day.

The reporters were all over the fact that the Turians had been bested, the Human ones positively bursting with glee. Tevos and the other councillors couldn't go anywhere without being swamped by reporters inquiring about this.

There were also the Systems Alliance's continued attempts to convince the Council to let them aid the Turians in the defence of Citadel space. The problem was that the Human Ambassador, Anita Goyle, had made a good speech on the subject, gaining a great deal of support for Humanity's proposition.

The Batarian trade agreement had also not yet been resolved and was causing problems.

And then this happened.

"What do you mean the scout ships aren't back? They should have travelled to both and back in the space of an hour. They have been gone for twenty hours now," Seliron demanded.

"Exactly that. We haven't heard from them since they hit the Relay to take them to their respective destinations. They've disappeared for all we know," Sparatus grunted.

Tevos turned from the window that she had been looking out of, looking at her fellow councillors. After a moment, she spoke.

"In that case, we must assume that both Invictus and Quadim have been lost, along with the scouting vessels. Worst of all, we still know nothing," Tevos muttered, annoyed.

"That is where you are wrong. The scout ship at Quadim did manage to transmit one thing before it disappeared. We believe it was a transmission from the planet. It contained this video," Sparatus informed his fellows.

He activated the display screen, starting the video. It showed security footage of a black armoured soldier being injured and another running over to help them. They removed the helmet, showing a human face. Here, Sparatus stopped the video.

"As you can see, the Alliance has attacked our colonies. The transmission also included sensor readings indicating the same ships in orbit as were encountered previously," Sparatus declared.

"Indeed. Must act quickly. Alliance… way out of line," Seliron agreed.

"I am not sure. If it is the Alliance, they must be dealt with. But what if it isn't the Alliance. I am curious to see what will happen, I admit," Tevos declared quietly, walking back to the window.

"Councillor Tevos! How- " Sparatus started.

"Never mind that. I think we are about to meet them. It would appear they have arrived," Tevos interrupted, staring in horror out of the window at the massive fleet of oversized ships appearing around the Citadel.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Yay, holidays! I'll try to update frequently but I'm not making any promises. Now that the CUFS fleet has arrived at the Citadel, it is time to rejoin Christina Whyte.**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises?**

**Onboard the CUFS vessel _United Stand_**

"Admiral, we have reached the Citadel," reported the Unggoy navigations officer, Denod.

"Excellent. All ships are to assume blockade formation, jam all long-range transmissions and only aim to disable ships. And get a group on the Relay ASAP," Christina barked out from her seat on the bridge.

After Salera, her Sangheili communications officer, relayed her orders to the other ships, Christina watched as ten ships broke off and moved in front of the Relay. The remaining 240 ships moved into blockade positions around the Citadel. The _United Stand _moved into position, covering almost an entire side on its own.

"Admiral, we've tapped into their communications network and are ready to broadcast on all frequencies. The line is yours," reported Salera.

"Citadel Forces, this is Admiral Whyte of the Confederacy of Unified Free Species. Power down all non-essential systems. Failure to comply will result in being fired upon. Citadel Council, I would like to formally request to board and attempt to negotiate a peaceful resolution. I expect your answer within two minutes. Admiral Whyte, out."

The Citadel defence fleet, recognizing the superior numbers and firepower of the CUFS, immediately complied by deactivating their weapons and shields. The Council, however, took longer. It was nearing the two-minute mark before a response came.

"A hangar has been prepared for you. Proceed to these coordinates, from there you will be taken to meet with the Council."

"Excellent. Let's go to the Pelican. Is the SpecOps team ready?" Christina asked Candon.

"Aye, they're in the Phantoms as are the SPARTANs. Good luck, ma'am," the AI responded with a salute.

"Thank you, Candon. Come on, Vareena. We have a Council to meet with," Christina said, walking off the bridge followed by Vareena Korla.

**Onboard the Citadel**

Officer Garrus Vakarian was waiting in the hangar for these CUFS people. He was one of twenty C-Sec officers assigned to escort them to the Council Chambers. Three grey drop ships swooped into the hangar. The hatches folded down on the sides of the two bulbous drop ships whilst a single hatch came down on the rear of the more angular ship. A few of what looked like large mechs climbed out of the bulbous ships. For a moment, Garrus thought he saw some other beings in the drop ships as well, but there was nothing there except a slight shimmer so Garrus dismissed it as what humans might call a trick of the light.

After the mechs had climbed out, four figures climbed out of the back of the angular vessel. One was about the height of a human and had what looked like some kind of tank on its back. Another was approximately eight feet tall and clad in silver armour. Another was an Asari, probably a prisoner. And the last was obviously a human, or at least very similar. What was a human doing here? Unless they were responsible?

The group started across the hangar towards the door and the C-Sec personnel, being joined halfway across by the mechs. As they approached, the Turian C-Sec captain stepped forward.

"Welcome to the Citadel. I'm going to have to take your weapons before we can go any further."

The human nodded once to either side of her. The mechs stepped forward causing everyone to tense. However, they merely started putting their guns on the nearby table. Five minutes later, they put the last of their guns down and stepped back.

"Shall we?" the human said, eliciting a chuckle from the tall creature.

The captain nodded, before signalling the C-Sec officers into formation around the group. Garrus took up his position at the back of the group before they started walking toward the Council Chambers.

Upon reaching the Council Chambers, Christina looked round for snipers and the like, noticing the others doing the same. Crossing the room, they came to a set of stairs leading up to a platform facing a group of three beings. Various other beings stood nearby, including humans, just as Vareena had said.

"Greetings and welcome to the Citadel. I am Councillor Tevos of the Asari. This is Councillor Seliron of the Salarians and Councillor Sparatus of the Turians," Tevos said indicating the other councillors as she introduced them.

"Thank you. I am Admiral Christina Whyte of the Confederacy of Unified Free Species. This is Colonel Serm 'Kaar of the Sangheili, one of our members, and Major Firik of the Unggoy, also a member species," Christina introduced, also indicating her companions as she named them.

"I hope we can find a peaceful resolution to this conflict. War is not a nice thing," Tevos remarked.

"I quite agree. Especially when it is unnecessary," Christina responded.

"Indeed. Which is why we are demanding your unconditional surrender," Sparatus demanded.

"You are in no position to demand anything from us, Councillor," Serm growled back.

"Really? You are unarmed and surrounded. There is nothing you can do," Seliron crowed.

"I would like to point out that I was not in favour of this action," Tevos pointed out.

"I guessed as much from what I've heard of you. Now then, I'd hoped this wouldn't be necessary but so be it. Initiate Plan: Bravo," Christina shouted.

As one four SpecOps teams decloaked, some of them throwing weapons to the SPARTANs others simply grabbing the nearest C-Sec officer and holding them at gun point, or in some cases sword point. Serm drew his energy sword, holding it to the C-Sec captain's neck. Firik caught an M7, which he aimed at the Ambassadors, whilst Christina swiped a Magnum out of the air and aimed it at the Council.

"As you can see, I'm not stupid. I brought back up. Now then, shall we return to the actual plan of negotiating peace or would you like me to leave and blow up the Citadel as I go? Thought so. I don't want this to turn into some kind of full-scale war, they're not good," Christina began.

"What would you know of war? We have fought wars the scale of which you cannot begin to imagine, casualties numbering in the hundreds of millions," Sparatus exclaimed.

"300 billion."

"What did you say, Admiral?" Seliron asked.

"300 billion men, women and children of all races died during the Human-Covenant War, a war that lasted thirty years and finished twenty years ago. Don't lecture me about war, Councillors, because you know nothing of war. I fought in that war, can you say the same of the war you were talking of? Of course not," Christina ranted.

"And how would you know? This war may have been recent," Sparatus returned.

"Because you speak of statistics. Those who have experienced war do not talk of the dead as a statistic. You speak of war the same way a child who has learned of a war in class might, a set of numbers and facts. Those who live through war speak of the friends and family that they lost, they speak of the horrors they saw and they speak of the heroes who saved them. They do all that using the same words you did, the number of casualties. The difference is the feeling behind the words. The dead are not a number; they are people like you or me, who were taken by the fires of war before their time. Remember that next time you talk to me about war," Christina shouted at a shocked Sparatus.

"I apologise for my fellow Councillor's words. We didn't realise that you had such experiences," Tevos told Christina when it became apparent that Sparatus was too shocked to say anything.

"It's fine. You couldn't know, Councillor. Now shall we discuss this peace treaty? Candon, my ship's AI, has created a basic outline but we are open to negotiation," the Admiral informed the Council, eliciting a groan from Vareena.

"I'm sorry. I must have misheard you. Did you say AI, as in Artificial Intelligence?" Seliron asked, horrified at the possibility.

"You heard me correctly. Each CUFS military vessels, as well as all other official vessels and some civilian vessels, have a smart AI to help run the ship. Without AI, we would likely not be here. We have various safety protocols in place to keep them under control," Christina explained.

"Well either way, if you want to join the Citadel races, the AIs must go. They are a violation of our laws," Seliron told the CUFS officers.

"We are not here to join you, fool. We are here to prevent a war, nothing more. Any other possibilities will be dealt with later, by politicians not soldiers," Serm retorted, whilst signalling to the SpecOps and SPARTANs to lower their weapons.

"Colonel, try not to cause an incident. Now, this is our preliminary idea for a treaty…"

And so negotiations began, which lasted the next few hours. By the time everyone was (relatively) happy with the terms, it was already rather late.

"So just to make sure we're clear and have the same, let's briefly run through the basics. We, the CUFS, will not encroach on Citadel space and will provide funding and resources to aid in the reconstruction of Quadim and Invictus. We will also not fire upon any Citadel ship unless it fails to comply with our directions. Does everyone have the same, in essence?" Christina asked, receiving nods from everyone.

"Meanwhile, we, the Citadel Races, will not encroach on CUFS space and the Turian Hierarchy will send a formal apology to the CUFS and the families of those killed through their actions. We will also not fire upon any CUFS ship unless it fails to comply with our directions. Correct?" Tevos checked, also receiving nods.

"Well then, Councillors, I will return in a few days with some ambassadors so that a full treaty can be created. Good day and good luck, Councillors," Christina said.

After saying their farewells, the Admiral and her entourage left. They returned to their ships, Vareena Korla going with them. Shortly there after, all 250 ships were gone from around the Citadel.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: Hello again, everyone who still reads this. Some people mentioned that they felt the negotiations were short or that the chapter was boring. I'm sorry if you found it boring but it had to be there and I felt it should be done like that. If you thought the negotiations were too short, tough; I couldn't be bothered writing the equivalent of a few hours of them going "no this should be there", "we're not agreeing to that" and the like. Also a few people have asked so I'll say it now; the Master Chief will NOT appear in this story. I don't think he's a good character. Someone expressed confusion over whether this is all in the same galaxy. The answer is sort of: the events of the Halo games, books etc. were set in one galaxy; Mass Effect and this story are in the neighbouring galaxy. Now then, on with the story, which will in part be more of a timeline.**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises?**

**2574: **In the early months of the year, the CUFS and the Citadel Council form a treaty. The CUFS opens an embassy on the Citadel, with the Citadel receiving an embassy on Horizon. The Intergalactic Tunnel and the fact that the CUFS resides primarily at the other end are kept secret. Neither side feels comfortable sharing technology, although some information is exchanged. Vareena Korla joins the CUFS as their advisor on Citadel cultures, species and technologies, although she is unable to provide schematics for technologies. She is made aware of the nature of the CUFS.

**2578: **The CUFS hand over a Prothean artefact to the Citadel, officially because they have no interest in it. In truth, they have spent a year studying it and have discovered that Protheans and Forerunners use the same language, at least in written form. Admiral Whyte and Captain Whyte have their first child, who they name Preston Frederick Whyte.

**2580s: **Tensions are still relatively high between Turians and the CUFS. The Systems Alliance attempts to capture a CUFS ship for research. When the CUFS discovers this, they promptly retaliate against the HSA, sending three HSA patrol fleets to dry dock for a year. During this time, the first Batarian slavers attempt to enslave people at one of the CUFS' colonies. Every single ship is shot down instantly after failing to comply with instructions. The Batarian Hegemony takes this before the Council, claiming unjustified murder of their people. Admiral Whyte, the CUFS military ambassador, provides evidence that the vessels failed to comply with instructions and hence were destroyed. She then makes a statement in a press conference stating that slavery is not tolerated within the CUFS and that slavers will be "executed on sight". This causes tension between the Batarian Hegemony and the CUFS. The Salarian Councillor, Seliron, retires, being replaced by Valern. The Whytes' second and third children are born and are named Catherine Jessica Whyte and William Philip Whyte. George Campbell gets promoted to Vice Admiral after clearing out three pirate and five slaver bases within twelve days without a single casualty. A patrol fleet of the Turian Hierarchy witnesses the glassing of a planet by the CUFS after the CUFS finds it to be Flood infested. Upon being told of this, the entirety of Citadel space goes into uproar, with the entire populace crying out for the CUFS to get rid of those weapons. The CUFS refuses, greatly increasing tension. The Whyte's final child, Linda Evelyn Whyte is born.

**2590-2593:** After years of searching, the archivists find the explanation as to why Protheans and Forerunners wrote the same: the Forerunners had spread into that galaxy as well, however when the Flood attacked them, they quarantined the galaxy, cutting all ties. It was effective, for the most part, with very little of the Flood managing to cross the Tunnel. The Forerunners that survived became the Protheans, coming to rely upon the Relays and the like. The Forerunners had also apparently brought humans into the new galaxy to see if they would develop in different ways if they were apart. This is all kept top secret, being told only to the highest-ranked CUFS personnel and none of the Citadel species, except Vareena Korla. The last of the originally planned _Alliance_-class Super Dreadnought is completed. A group of mercenaries manage to board a CUFS frigate and almost succeed in capturing it but the ship's AI, upon realizing that there are no surviving CUFS personnel, vents the ship before jumping to slipspace. Upon the frigate returning to a CUFS military outpost, the CUFS retaliates against the mercenaries, wiping out the entire group.

**2594:** The Systems Alliance makes another attempt to get a Council Spectre. Once again, the Council agree to evaluate the candidate, a woman called Commander Alexis Shepard, sending the Spectre Nihlus Kryik to join her on the new Alliance frigate, the SSV Normandy. Meanwhile, Admiral Whyte attends the annual Council Charity Ball, an event that the majority of celebrities and dignitaries attend and receives a great deal of media coverage…

**Onboard the Citadel**

Christina and Philip Whyte approached the entrance to the Citadel Grand Hall arm in arm. The Admiral was clad in an ankle length, black gown and matching three-inch heels. Her husband was wearing a black suit with a light blue shirt and red tie. After showing their tickets, they continued into the room to find a great deal of people already present.

Within minutes of arriving, they were already separated. Philip was talking with two famous retired Turian officers about the differences between Slipspace and the Relay network. Christina meanwhile, was busy talking with Councillor Tevos and Admiral Hackett about how etiquette varies amongst cultures. The evening continued such, with the couple rarely being together for very long.

However, by the end of the evening, Christina had found that when she didn't need to play the part of Councillor, Tevos was nice to be around. She found herself organising to meet up with her for a meal later on that week.

It was getting late and Christina found herself once again talking to Hackett and Tevos when it happened. Hackett's omnitool beeped, alerting him of an urgent call. Excusing himself briefly, he went into a corner take the call. When he returned to the two ladies, he told them the bad news.

"One of our colonies, Eden Prime, has apparently been attacked," Hackett informed them.

"Wasn't that where the SSV Normandy was going on her maiden voyage?" Tevos asked.

"They're the ones who told us. They're heading back here, at which point we'll get a full report. What I know so far isn't good. The beacon's been destroyed and Kryik is dead. It's pretty much been a disaster," Hackett summed up with a groan.

"Well, anything the CUFS can do to help, just let me know. I'll do what I can, Admiral," Christina told him, giving him a sympathetic smile.

"As will I. I will do all I can to help you," Tevos added.

"Thank you, Councillor, Admiral. I may need to take you up on that, but for now, I need to go. I need to try and get some sleep in before I have to hear about this disaster. Goodnight, ladies," Hackett said, turning to leave.

"Yes, I should probably go too. Leaving the four kids at home with the babysitter for too long is just asking for trouble. If you'll excuse me, Tevos, I need to find my husband and leave. I'll see on Friday," Christina said in farewell.

"Indeed. Goodnight, Christina," Tevos said, moving off to speak to an Asari Spectre called Tela Vasir.

Moving through the crowd, Christina managed to avoid being flirted with by a Human actor, caught an Elcor's glass as it was knocked off a table and managed to prevent to slightly drunk Turians from getting into a brawl. When she found her husband, she excused him from the conversation before leaving with him.

Once they were back in their exceedingly large apartment, they went to bed. Christina's last thought before she fell asleep was, 'This incident with Eden Prime isn't done yet, and it's probably going to give me a headache.'


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Hello there, everyone. Someone seemed confused as to why the HSA attempted to capture a CUFS frigate. I've added the reason in but in case you don't want to go back, it was because they wanted to examine the technology. The majority of this chapter is lifted straight from the game, Mass Effect. The YouTuber TetraNinja created a walkthrough of all three games although he played as a Male Shepard. It is this that I will use as my source. Check him out, he's good and does a lot of game walkthroughs. But here, Shepard is the default female appearance. I've also made up a first name for Tevos now. Now then, on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises?**

**Onboard the Citadel**

Much as Admiral Whyte had suspected, the Eden Prime incident snowballed out of control. The human embassy accused one of the Council's most prominent and successful Spectres, Saren Arterius, of orchestrating the attack and killing another Spectre, Nihlus Kryik, who had accompanied Shepard.

When Christina walked onto a balcony in the Council Chamber, the sight of Ambassador Udina, Captain Anderson, Commander Shepard and two other Alliance soldiers facing the Council and the hologram of a Turian, probably Saren Arterius, met her. Udina was evidently not happy about what the Council was saying.

"The investigation by Citadel Security turned up no evidence to support your charge of treason," Sparatus was saying as Christina arrived.

"An eyewitness saw him kill Nihlus in cold blood!" Udina responded, scowling.

"We've read the Eden Prime reports, Ambassador. The testimony of one traumatized dockworker is hardly compelling proof," Valern, the new Salarian Councillor, explained.

"I resent these accusations. Nihlus was a fellow Spectre. And a friend."

Christina found Arterius' very voice to be the kind of voice that you can't help but not believe without proof if he told you grass was green. However, she tried not to let that make her biased. She didn't know all the facts and what she had heard so far didn't do much to incriminate Arterius.

"That just let you catch him off guard!" Anderson exclaimed.

"Captain Anderson. You always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me. And this must be your protégé, Commander Shepard. The one who let the beacon be destroyed," remarked Arterius, the dislike evident in every syllable.

"The mission to Eden Prime was top secret. The only way you could know about the beacon was if you were there!" Shepard retaliated.

This was the first Christina had heard of any kind of beacon at Eden Prime. She had to admit her curiosity was piqued.

"With Nihlus gone, his files passed on to me. I read the Eden Prime report. I was unimpressed. But what can you expect from a human?" Arterius sneered.

"Saren despises humanity. That's why he attacked Eden Prime!" Shepard exclaimed.

"Your species needs to learn its place, Shepard. You're not ready to join the Council. You're not even ready to join the Spectres!" Arterius retorted.

"He has no right to say that! That's not his decision!" Udina shouted, outraged.

"Shepard's admission into the Spectres is not the purpose of this meeting," Tevos reminded everyone.

"This meeting has no purpose. The humans are wasting your time, Councillor. And mine," Arterius added.

"Saren's hiding behind his position as a Spectre. You need to open your eyes!" the Commander told the Council.

"What we need is evidence. So far, we have seen nothing," Valern contradicted.

"There is still one outstanding issue: Commander Shepard's vision. It may have been triggered by the beacon," Anderson pointed out.

Christina rolled her eyes. Even if the vision were real it would do no good in this kind of situation.

"Are we allowing dreams into evidence now? How can I defend my innocence against this kind of testimony?"

Although she didn't like having to admit, she agreed with Arterius. There was no way that would go through.

"I agree. Our judgement must be based on facts and evidence, not wild imaginings and reckless speculation," Sparatus said.

"Do you have anything else to add, Commander Shepard?" Valern asked.

"You've made your decision. I won't waste my breath," the woman retorted.

"The Council has found no evidence of any connection between Saren and the geth. Ambassador, your petition to have him disbarred from the Spectres is denied," Tevos informed an obviously annoyed Udina.

"I'm glad to see justice was served," Arterius remarked, before his hologram flickered out.

"This meeting is adjourned," Tevos told everyone.

The humans left the platform, meeting up at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the platform. Christina left the balcony, going down to speak with Artina Tevos.

"Hello there, Artina. Do you want to go find somewhere to sit down and have lunch for a while?" Christina asked upon reaching the Asari.

"Yes, why not? I know of a nice little restaurant nearby we can go to."

And so the two of them wandered off to have lunch. It ended up turning into lunch followed by five cups of tea or coffee. At five o'clock, the two of them decided to order some cake and then leave. However, before they could order, Artina got a message informing her that the Human Embassy apparently had evidence to show the Council. So the two stood up, with Christina insisting on paying for everything, and started off toward the Council Chambers.

Once they arrived, Tevos returned to the Council's podium whilst Christina went up to the balconies once more. On her way to the balcony, a Sangheili approached her with a datapad containing request for more ships from Vice Admiral Campbell. After looking it over and authorising it, she proceeded up to the balcony in time to hear the new evidence.

"Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit," came a recording of Arterius' voice.

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers," added a female voice.

"You wanted proof. There it is," Udina told the Council.

"This evidence is irrefutable, Ambassador. Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts will be made to bring him in to make him answer for his crimes," Sparatus conceded.

"I recognize the other voice, the one speaking with Saren. Matriarch Benezia," Tevos noted.

"Who's she?" Shepard asked.

'Ain't that the million dollar question' Christina thought.

"Matriarchs are powerful asari who have entered the final stage of their lives. Revered for their wisdom and experience, they serve as guides and mentors to my people. Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic and she had many followers. She will make a formidable ally for Saren," Tevos explained.

"I'm more interested in the Reapers. What do you know about them?" asked Valern, obviously curious.

"Only what was extracted from the geth's memory core. The Reapers were an ancient race of machines that wiped out the Protheans. Then they vanished," Anderson told the Council.

"The geth believe the Reapers are gods. And Saren is the prophet for their return," Shepard continued.

"We think the Conduit is the key to bringing them back. Saren's searching for it. That's why he attacked Eden Prime," Anderson elaborated further.

"Do we even know what this Conduit is?" Valern asked.

"Saren thinks it can bring the Reapers back. That's bad enough," Shepard remarked.

"Listen to what you're saying. Saren wants to bring back the machines that wiped out all life in the galaxy? Impossible. It has to be. Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish? How come we've found no trace of their existence? If they were real, we'd have found something!" Sparatus claimed.

"I tried to warn you about Saren and you refused to face the truth. Don't make the same mistake again," Shepard warned the Council.

"This is different. You proved Saren betrayed the Council. We all agree he's using the geth to search for the Conduit, but we don't really know why," Tevos explained to Shepard.

"The Reapers are obviously just a myth, Commander. A convenient lie to cover Saren's true purpose. A legend he is using to bend the geth to his will," Valern said.

"Fifty thousand years ago, the Reapers wiped out all galactic civilization. If Saren finds the Conduit, it will happen again!" Shepard told the Council.

"Saren is a rogue agent on the run for his life. He no longer possesses the rights or resources of a Spectre. The Council has stripped him of his position," Sparatus told the Alliance group.

However, Christina disagreed. Were it her place, she would have sent a group of SpecOps, SPARTANs and maybe some ODSTs after him. Unfortunately, until Arterius proved to be a threat to the CUFS, she would be violating the terms of the treaty by doing so.

"That is not good enough! You know he's hiding somewhere in the Traverse. Send your fleet in!" Udina demanded.

"Talk about overkill," Christina muttered to herself.

"A fleet cannot track down one man," Valern told the Ambassador.

"A Citadel fleet could secure the entire region. Keep the geth from attacking any more of our colonies," claimed Udina.

"Or it could trigger a war with the Terminus System! We won't be dragged into a galactic confrontation over a few dozen human colonies!" Sparatus retorted.

"I can take Saren down," Shepard said.

"The Commander's right. There is a way to stop Saren that doesn't require fleets or armies," Tevos said, turning to the Turian Councillor.

"No! It's to soon. Humanity is not ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres," Sparatus claimed.

"You don't have to send a fleet into the Traverse, and the Ambassador gets his human Spectre. Everybody's happy," Shepard told the Turian.

Glancing at the nodding Asari Councillor, Sparatus gave a slight sigh before nodding.

"Commander Shepard – step forward," Tevos told her.

With a glance at Anderson, Shepard did so, stepping into the space which Udina had just vacated. People around the room turned to watch, leaning on the railings of the balconies. Christina, much like everyone else, was listening with rapt attention.

"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel," Tevos began.

"Spectres are not trained but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle, those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file," Valern continued.

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will," Tevos interjected.

"Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold," Sparatus added.

"You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire race," Tevos concluded.

"I'm honoured, Councillor," Shepard said with a slight bow.

"We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorised to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him," Valern instructed Shepard.

"Any idea where to find him?" the Commander asked.

"We will forward any relevant files to Ambassador Udina," the Turian Councillor told her.

"This meeting of the Council is adjourned," Tevos said.

And with that, the Councillors departed. Christina pushed off the railing, moving through the crowd until she reached the stairs. On the main floor, she rejoined Tevos and the two left to find some dinner.

Out of the corner of her eye, Christina saw the first human Spectre leave the Council Chambers to prepare for her first mission.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Hello again, everyone. Sorry it's been a while since I updated, I was in the Highlands with no Internet and no laptop. But I'm back now. Some have asked about the CUFS' role in the story. I will say that they aren't doing much during ME1. The run up to ME2 will see the CUFS begin to influence the proceedings. Once again, non-original conversations with Shepard will be based on TetraNinja's playthrough. Now, onto the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises?**

**Onboard the Citadel**

Over the next month, the new Human Spectre, Shepard, caused a great deal of talk, and not just because she was the first human to hold the title. After saving Dr. T'Soni, Matriarch Benezia's daughter, on Therum, Shepard removed the Geth from Feros whilst also destroying a Thorian. However, those were not the most controversial of her decisions.

Upon encountering Rachni on Noveria, instead of destroying them, Shepard had released the Queen, giving the Rachni a chance to rebuild. Most of the Council races were outraged when they heard about this whilst the CUFS races agreed with Shepard's decision, claiming that genocide was unacceptable especially when it was unnecessary. This resulted in a number of heated arguments, sometimes escalating into full out brawls.

Needless to say, this did little to ease tensions between the Council and the CUFS.

"Un-fucking-believable!" Admiral Whyte muttered as she stormed from the Council Chambers.

Ever since word of Shepard's choice had spread, Christina was meeting with the Council almost daily to prevent one incident or another from flaring up into a diplomatic incident. Sparatus and Valern were not helping in the least. In fact, they seemed to be trying to escalate matters. Only Tevos maintained a state of relative calm and neutrality.

Today, two Sangheili and a trio of Unggoy SpecOps soldiers had gotten into a fight with three Turians, four Batarians, two Salarians and a Krogan after they stopped them from injuring some Systems Alliance Humans. The result was three Turians, three Batarians, two Salarians and a Krogan needing to be placed in intensive care for over a week, with the remaining Batarian and two Unggoy needing to have some broken bones realigned and an exceedingly angry pair of councillors.

It had taken the better part of the day to prevent Sparatus and Valern from having the five CUFS soldiers arrested and executed. In the end the only thing that stopped that outcome was the testimony of three Asari, a Krogan, the Turian bartender and seven Humans as well as the security footage proving that the soldiers had not started the fight. The rest of the day was spent convincing the Sparatus and Valern that the soldiers had been well within the law to respond as they did.

Christina had gone in at 9 o'clock in the morning. Glancing at her watch she was not overly surprised to find that it was now 4 in the afternoon. Climbing into her hovercar, she drove off toward her apartment. Arriving ten minutes later, she parked before climbing out and walking to her front door.

"I'm home, finally," she shouted as she entered the hallway.

"Mummy!" was all she heard before two arms wrapped around her waist.

"Hello there, Linda. What did you get up to today?" Christina said, picking up her youngest daughter.

"We went to the swimming pool, Mummy, and I managed to swim from one end of the big pool to the other," responded Linda, grinning widely.

"Did you really? You're turning into a big girl aren't you?" Christina said, as she entered the living room.

"Hi, mum," said her eldest son, Preston, without looking up from his video game.

"Hello, dear. How was your day? I hope you weren't playing this all day?" Christina told him sternly, putting Linda down, who ran off to play again.

"No. I've only been playing two hours," he responded smiling smugly.

"OK then. When did you get up?" she asked.

"Two hours ago. Oh shit!" Preston swore realizing what he'd said.

"You've got ten seconds to save that before I switch it off."

"But mum…"

"Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Zero" Christina said, hitting the power button.

"Mum!" Preston cried out in frustration.

"What's the matter, Preston?" Philip said as he walked into the room, studying a datapad.

"Philip, would you mind telling your wife why Preston has been doing nothing but video games since he got up?" she asked him sweetly.

"Ah… Erm… Well… I didn't notice?" he responded carefully.

"I'll talk to you later. As for you, Preston, go find something to do that doesn't involve a flaming screen," she told him as he slouched out of the room.

Before anything more could be said, there was a loud explosion followed by numerous crashes from down the hallway.

"What have they done now?" Christina said, rolling her eyes at her husband.

"I don't know. What I do know is that you're going to deal with it," Philip said, smirking.

"Thanks, honey. You're too kind," she deadpanned.

Sighing, she turned and started down the hallway to the inevitable source of the noise; one of the twins' rooms. The twins were the family mischief and disaster makers. During their twelve years in existence, they had destroyed everything in the apartment at least once.

Checking one room, she found it devoid of life. Turning, she faced the door opposite it.

"Catherine Jessica Whyte and William Philip Whyte! Just what do you think you are doing?" she bellowed at the two children upon seeing what lay behind the door.

Two heads poked out from behind the ruined bed. The room was wrecked. The desk was splintered; the shelves had fallen over; the chest of drawers was burnt; the wardrobe had fallen onto the bed and some of the books were on fire. Turning to examine the room, the two heads then turned to face each other.

"I think that went well, don't you, Cathy?" asked one.

"Oh yes. It went very well, Will," responded the other.

Then with a yelp, they remembered that their mother was in the room.

"Explain."

One-word sentences were never a good sign, especially when they were spoken that quietly and with a distinct air of forced calm.

"Well – Errr – we wanted to see –" began Catherine.

"- what would happen if you mixed –"

"- gunpowder, baking soda and chocolate –"

"- because we thought it might look cool –"

"- which it bloody does!" they finished together, delighted.

"You have until dinner to clean this room. If it isn't clean by then, there will be far more severe consequences," Christina informed them.

"We're not being punished?" asked Will, earning him a kick in the shins from his sister.

"Not yet," Christina said, moving to the door.

"When's dinner?" asked Cathy.

"Half an hour," came the response from further down the hallway.

With a panicked look at each other, the twins ran off to get their old acquaintances, the cleaning equipment. As they ran past her, Christina let out a chuckle before proceeding to the kitchen to begin making dinner.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: Hello again, people-who-are-still-reading-this. Yes, the last chapter was a filler. This chapter, however, marks the start of CUFS involvement in events of the galaxy. Also, congratulations to any who notice the Firefly reference. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises?**

**Onboard the Citadel**

Admiral Christina Whyte was not in a good mood.

The Council was once again making idiotic decisions. This time it was confining the Human Spectre, Commander Alexis Shepard, to the Citadel due to a lack of belief in what she was saying. Christina, however, believed the Commander, to a point. She definitely believed that it was worth being cautious.

All this had resulted in her meeting with the Commander and a Captain David Anderson. The result of this meeting was that Shepard would get the Normandy ready to leave, Anderson would release the lockdown from Ambassador Udina's office and Christina would keep a SpecOps squad on standby in case Anderson failed and they needed to use the C-Sec control room.

She walked into the small military centre the CUFS kept on the Citadel. Arriving in the control centre, she walked over to a monitor that displayed the image of the outside of the Citadel, specifically the area near the Alliance hangar where the Normandy was docked.

A tense few minutes passed as they waited for the ship to appear. Christina was just about to order the SpecOps in, when the elegant form of the Normandy whizzed across the screen. The control room erupted into cheers, everyone rejoicing at Anderson's success.

"Right, that's enough. Settle down. Keep an eye on the Relay, anything coming through it and anything out of place. I want to know if the Relay so much as sparks," Christina ordered.

With that the control centre settled back into a reasonable calm, with the occasional exchange of information or chat the only sound disrupting them.

For nearly two hours, nothing changed.

Then, one of the monitors, linked to the camera nearest the Relay, started showing static. Followed by another and another and another. The recordings were rewound to shortly before they went static, revealing a fleet of ships, Geth ships, led by one ship almost as long as the _Destiny Ascension_.

"All hands, battle stations! The Citadel is under attack! This is not drill! Security teams to your positions!" Admiral Whyte ordered via the intercom.

Throughout the base, the various soldiers grabbed their weapons and hurried to their designated positions. Everyone in the control centre moved their firearms somewhere they could reach it instantly if the need arose.

"This is CUFS Citadel Control to all CUFS ships; the Citadel is under attack! Repeat the Citadel is under attack! All available ships are to report to the Citadel immediately!"

The CUFS personnel watched as the first group of Citadel ships moved to intercept the Geth fleet. They could do nothing but continue to watch as the Geth ships tore the Citadel ships apart with the aid of the Reaper.

"Ma'am! The frigates _Never Say Never,_ _Fires Of War, Eternal Hunter, Time To Die _and _Memory Of Peace_ are inbound, as is the carrier _Serenity _and the cruiser _Polaris._ ETA: one hour, possibly three-quarters of an hour for the _Serenity_ according to Captain Reynolds."

"Excellent! All forces prepare to engage! Geth forces are amassing outside the main door!" Christina informed the soldiers.

For nearly three-quarters of an hour, the CUFS fought against waves of Geth. Thankfully, their superior shielding meant that so far there were no casualties. However, the sheer number of Geth had begun to push them back after about half an hour, bringing the fighting to the corridor leading to the command centre. Here, however, the CUFS held their ground, reinforced by the soldiers who had been guarding the command room.

Admiral Whyte leant out from behind the desk she was using for cover, firing at a Geth, which made the mistake of sticking its head out. The first few rounds from her pistol took down its shields before the next one went through its eye followed by two to the chest.

"Ma'am! The Alliance has arrived! Fifth fleet, under the command of Admiral Hackett! They're moving in to help the _Ascension_!"

"You heard the man! We got back up, soldiers! Now, let's show these guys why you don't fuck with the CUFS!" the Admiral shouted, eliciting a cheer from the soldiers.

With the boost to their moral that reinforcements brought, the CUFS soldiers started to push the Geth soldiers back. Once the fighting was once more clear of the command centre, Christina stood up. Dusting herself off a bit, she looked up at the monitors in time to see the Citadel begin to open. As if on cue, a slipspace portal opened near the Citadel, disgorging a CUFS carrier.

"The _Serenity_ has arrived, ma'am. Orders?"

"Get me a line to the captain."

**Onboard the CUFS carrier _Serenity_**

"Captain Reynolds, glad you could join us," said Admiral Whyte over the radio link.

"I aim to please, ma'am. What are your orders?" Captain Reynolds replied, grinning slightly.

"Help the Alliance against the Reaper. Report to Admiral Hackett and report to him for until further notice. Admiral Whyte, out."

Reynolds got up from his chair and walked to the front of the bridge.

"You heard the lady, get me a line to Admiral Hackett!" he ordered.

"Admiral Hackett, this is the CUFS carrier _Serenity_, do you copy?" asked the communications officer into his headset.

"I read you, _Serenity_. What's you're status?" came Hackett's voice.

"Admiral, this is Captain Reynolds. We've been asked to assist you. What are your orders?" Reynolds asked.

"Fall into position to the starboard side of the _SSV Perugia_. Ready your weapons, we're targeting the Reaper." Hackett responded after a moment.

"Aye Aye, sir!" Reynolds said before cutting the communication.

"What are you waiting for? You heard him; weapons ready and move into position alongside the _Perugia_!" he shouted when no one moved.

The bridge leapt into action, bringing the weapons online and moving the _Firefly-_class carrier in next to the smaller cruiser. Moving in with the Alliance Fifth Fleet, the carrier launched its fighters and bombers, sending Seraphs, Banshees, Sabres, Longswords and Shortswords into the fray. Like a swarm of bees, the smaller ships moved off to engage the Geth fighters.

"All ships, this is Admiral Hackett. Fire at will. Repeat: fire at will."

"You heard him; fire the MAC and a volley of plasma torpedoes. Double time it, people, we ain't got all day," Reynolds added.

As the Alliance ships opened fire, the _Serenity_ fired three plasma torpedoes whilst finishing charging her MAC. As the first volley from the Fifth Fleet hit the Reaper, it returned fire. Aiming a red beam at a nearby frigate, it sliced the ship in half. At this point the _Serenity_'s AI notified Reynolds that the MAC was primed and ready to fire.

"Well then, please, by all means, FIRE THE GORRAM THING!" Reynolds bellowed.

The carrier shuddered as it fired a 600-ton slug at 60,000ms-1 at the Reaper that had taken up residence on the Citadel tower. The slug impacted on the shields of the Reaper with sufficient force to punch a hole through a Turian dreadnought, and yet the shields held. Shortly thereafter, the trio of plasma torpedoes impacted on the Reaper's armour, burning chunks out of its sides. The Alliance fleet followed suit, firing another volley at the Reaper.

However, the Reaper was not just going to sit idly by as it got shot at. It fired again, this time targeting a cruiser, obliterating it.

Before long, the _Serenity_ fired another trio of plasma torpedoes, accompanied by a MAC round. The slug impacted on the Reaper's shields once more, followed by the plasma torpedoes burning more holes in the hull.

Having obliterated another three Alliance ships, the Reaper decided to set its sights on the CUFS carrier. Firing, the shot impacted the shields with such force that the whole ship shook.

"Damage report!" Reynolds barked.

"Shields down to 63.5%, Captain. Minor damage to some of the lower decks," droned the AI.

"Good. Return fire!" he added after a moment.

The MAC fired again, launching a third slug at the Reaper. It impacted on what little remained of the Reaper's shields, demolishing them. As one, the Alliance ships fired at the Reaper, causing it to lose its grip on the tower. As it fell, an Alliance frigate swooped down to deliver the killing blow.

With one last crackle of red energy, the Reaper exploded.

Just then, five CUFS frigates and a cruiser arrived at the Citadel. They immediately went to work mopping up the remaining Geth ships, aided by what remained of the Citadel fleet and the Fifth Fleet as well as the _Serenity._

The Battle of the Citadel was as good as over.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: Greetings, once again. School has once again begun, so updates are likely to be even fewer and even further between than ever. This chapter will explain some issues raised by the last chapter and its reviews. I apologise if you didn't like it. Oh, and if you have never seen Firefly (which was mentioned last chapter), shame on you. Go watch Firefly.**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises? I do however own a copy of the aforementioned Firefly, but that lovely piece of work is Joss Whedon's.**

**Onboard the Citadel**

'Bleeding typical,' Christina thought. 'The one time the two frigates we have stationed here need to temporarily leave, the Citadel is attacked.'

The Geth attack of three days ago had devastated large parts of the Citadel, with most of the damage to be found in the Presidium. The majority of the embassies had, in the case of the Elcor, been violently rearranged, whilst the Systems Alliance embassy was barely recognizable. The CUFS embassy was relatively intact, with the command centre having the entry way repaired after the Geth had significantly damaged the main hallway and entrance before they were pushed back.

After the Alliance had sprung to the Citadel's aid under now-Supreme Commander, Admiral Hackett, the Systems Alliance had been given a place on the Council. At Commander Shepard's recommendation, Captain Anderson had been appointed as their Councillor.

In half an hour, the Council had requested the presence of the various ambassadors for a meeting concerning the attack and aftermath. However, due to the state of the Presidium, Council meetings could not be held in the Council Tower. Instead, they were being held in a conference hall a few kilometres away.

That was Christina's destination.

In an effort to make sure she had read all the necessary reports as well as give herself time to think, the Admiral had opted to walk. As a result, the Admiral of the CUFS responsible for the Confederacy military in this galaxy was to be found walking down a street accompanied by her two SPARTAN and two Sangheili bodyguards.

Continuing along the street, she pulled a datapad out of her pocket and started reading the C-Sec preliminary damage report. It did not sound promising. The wreckage of the Reaper alone had caused almost 20 million credits worth of damage; with the Geth ground forces having caused even more.

So engrossed was the Admiral in the report, she would have walked right past the conference hall had one of the Sangheili not notified her. Stowing the datapad back into her pocket, she ascended the front steps before walking up to the reception desk.

"Admiral Christina Whyte, CUFS. I'm here for the meeting with the Council," she told the receptionist.

"Yep, head on in. It's down that corridor, last door on the right," the receptionist informed her, pointing down the right hand corridor.

Thanking her, the Admiral proceeded down the corridor, with her escort sitting down in the entry hall. Reaching the door, she gave her pistol and energy sword to the C-Sec personnel before proceeding into the room.

The room they were using was relatively large, with Christina having to walk almost twenty metres to the middle of the room to reach the Council. Greeting them and the other ambassadors, she joined the other representatives, including Admiral Hackett and Commander Shepard.

"Welcome, ambassadors, admirals. As you are aware this meeting is to both inform you of the details of the battle as well as the aftermath," Tevos began.

"Indeed. Hence, we've asked Admiral Hackett, who led the Alliance fleet, and Commander Shepard, who engaged Saren Arterius in the Council Tower, to provide us with the details of their respective engagements. Admiral, could you please tell the ambassadors of your battle with the Geth dreadnought?" Sparatus asked Hackett.

"I would, except I didn't face a Geth dreadnought. That thing wasn't Geth. The only civilisation with weapons remotely like that are the CUFS. So, unless the Confederacy has given technology to the Geth, the only explanation for it is that Commander Shepard is telling the truth," Hackett told them.

"Think of what you're saying, Admiral Hackett. Ancient, sentient machines who want to wipe out civilization? Impossible!" retorted the Turian.

"That's what you thought about the possibility of Saren being a traitor," Shepard remarked.

From there, the meeting devolved into a shouting match. Shepard, Hackett and Anderson were arguing that the Reapers existed, whilst Sparatus, Valern, Udina and Executor Pallin contradicted them. After a while, Admiral Whyte found herself drawn into the argument on the side for the existence of Reapers. After nearly half an hour of arguing, Tevos had had enough. After numerous attempts to intercede, she lost her temper.

"QUIET! The existence of Reapers is not the subject of this meeting. We are here to discuss the battle itself, as well as its aftermath. Leave this argument for a later time," Tevos scolded them.

"Of course, I apologise. We should return to the matter at hand," Christina agreed.

One by one, the others apologised as well, until the only ones yet to apologise were Shepard and Sparatus, who were busy glaring at each other.

"I apologise for digressing. You are correct, Councillor Tevos," Sparatus said, looking away from Shepard.

"I apologise as well. We aren't here to tell others of the existence of the Reapers," Shepard remarked.

"Now look here, Commander…" Sparatus began.

"Admiral, you're report of the battle," Tevos interrupted.

"Of course. The as-of-yet-unknown vessel proved extremely tough. Its shields survived multiple volleys, both from the _Serenity_ and us, although the _Serenity_'s plasma torpedoes passed through them. Its weaponry was as powerful as that of the Confederacy," Hackett informed the group.

"More powerful in fact. It managed to drop _Serenity_'s shields to 63.5%, ten percent more than our most powerful ship-mounted weapons can do," Christina interjected.

"Thank you for telling us that, Admiral. However, whilst the shields were powerful, the armour was comparatively weak. A single volley was sufficient to destroy it once it lost shields. Other than that, everything is in the report," Hackett concluded.

"Thank you, Admiral Hackett. That was most informative. Shepard, what have you to report?" Valern asked, turning to the Spectre.

"Pretty much the same. Sovereign, the Reaper, had enhanced Saren with cybernetics. He had extremely strong shields, was physically strong and very fast. This was after he had, in an attempt to redeem himself, shot himself through the head," Shepard added to astonished looks.

"You mean –wheeze- that Saren –wheeze- continued to –wheeze- fight after –wheeze- commiting suicide?" the Volus ambassador asked.

"No, he was, in essence, being remote controlled by Sovereign," Shepard clarified.

This, of course, caused worry, confusion and outrage from various parties.

'This is gonna take a _long_ time,' thought Hackett and Christina.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: Hello everyone. I have returned from a temporary absence, which ended up, longer than expected. Minor time skip now because nothing exciting happens that is relevant. Two months later, however…**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think I own the Mass Effect or Halo franchises?**

**Onboard the Citadel**

Admiral Whyte was not amused to say the least.

Not only had the Council not listened to the advice of the Alliance, the Confederacy and Commander Shepard and not done anything about the Reaper threat, they had also covered up the fact that the Reapers might even exist. However, that was currently the least of Christina's concerns.

She had just received word that Commander Alexis Shepard, saviour of the Citadel, captain of the SSV Normandy, was confirmed KIA. Over a month ago. The fact that Shepard was dead was not what concerned her however. Sure, she was sad the woman was dead but she was more annoyed that it had taken this long for the Council to tell anyone.

Climbing out of her hovercar at the recently-repaired Council Tower, she was met by a seething Admiral Hackett.

"Admiral Hackett. How nice to see you," Christina greeted him.

"Admiral Whyte, the pleasure is all mine. Its nice to see an agreeable face," the Alliance Supreme Commander responded.

"Council problems?" she asked sympathetically.

"Yes. I was just speaking to them about Shepard's death. It's disgraceful. Did you know they didn't even tell her mother she was dead until yesterday?" Hackett asked.

"You're joking? That is dreadful. Poor woman," Christina muttered, shaking her head.

"Hannah Shepard was relatively okay. She virtually screamed at the Council for not telling her sooner. I'm sure I saw Sparatus cower," he chuckled.

"How would you know that?" she inquired.

"We're old friends. Her older brother was a good friend of mine until he was killed. But even before that we got on well. I was visiting her when the call came through," he explained.

"Well next time you see her, could you tell her I'm sorry? If she ever wants someone to talk to, I'll happily oblige."

"I'll pass it on. Well, I'd best be going. Good day, Admiral," Hackett said, saluting.

"You too, Admiral," Christina responded, also saluting.

Both of them moved off, Hackett toward his hovercar and Christina toward the Tower.

"By the way, Christina, I would like to speak with you later. It concerns Sovereign's friends," Hackett added turning back to her briefly.

"Understood, Steven. Come by and visit me at the CUFS embassy in an hour, OK?" she responded, showing him that she had understood his indication that the meeting be private.

"I'll see you then, Christina. Have fun with the Councillors," he added as he climbed into his hovercar.

"Indeed. Until then, Steven" she responded, entering the Tower.

Approaching the Council, she saluted them briefly. After exchanging greetings, Tevos began.

"What brings you here today, Admiral Whyte?" Tevos asked.

"Nothing much. Just the way you handled the death of Commander Shepard. I mean, not to release the information to the public I can understand, but her mother?! Are you out of your minds?" Christina shouted.

"What this Council decides to do in relation to its own operatives is not your concern, Admiral," Sparatus remarked.

"I am aware of that. However, I am permitted to voice my outrage at the way this Council treats one of its best operatives and their families. It is simply disgraceful. And then you don't even attempt to pursue the killers? I am outraged at how little you care for your own," the Admiral ranted.

"The decision of this Council is final. The killers were mere pirates who got lucky. Like all pirates, they will be eliminated. Sooner or later," Valern told her.

"Disgraceful. Absolutely fucking disgraceful. Evidently you are too stubborn to recognize your failures. I recognize a lost cause when I see one, hence I will take my leave. Good day, _Councillors_," she snarled, making the last part sound almost like an insult.

Without waiting for a response, she turned and stalked out of the Tower and to her hovercar. Climbing in, she drove off to the CUFS embassy.

Upon arriving, she proceeded straight to her office and began working on paperwork. After about forty-five minutes, her intercom went off.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Admiral Whyte, Admiral Hackett of the Systems Alliance is here to speak with you," responded the Unggoy at the Reception.

"Send him up, please."

Moving the datapads to one side, she stood as the door opened, revealing Steven Hackett.

"Admiral Hackett, how nice to see you again," she greeted him.

"Indeed. However, I'm afraid this visit is purely business. It's to do with the Reapers," Hackett started.

"I guessed that when you mentioned Sovereign. How can I help you?" she asked.

"We're not ready for the Reapers. I'm not sure if they are real, but even if they aren't I'd rather be ready for them and then not need it than not be ready and need it. However, my hands are tied. I've been told that if I try to do anything about the "myth of the Reapers", as the President called it, I'll be fired. You, however, have no such limitations as far as I am aware. You could work on establishing more on the Reapers. It would give us an advantage, however minor, to know that they are coming," Hackett told her.

"Indeed. I was planning on searching for the Reapers as well. However, due to past experiences, my government would rather have more forces ready in case the threat is real. I'll arrange for a group to begin working on it right away. If you can help me, we can find some of the best minds in the galaxy to help search for evidence. Do you agree?" she asked him.

"Indeed, it's a sound plan. I'll make you a list of potential members. I'll also try to ensure that they have free movement within the Alliance," he said.

"Excellent. If we meet maybe, once a month or so, to discuss matters relating to this should suffice. Agreed?"

"Yes. Once a month will do nicely. There was also something else I wanted to speak to you about," Hackett informed her.

"Oh? What might that be?" she asked him.

"I've received intel that there may be a group that could help. I also have it from a very reliable source that they are planning on rebuilding Shepard. I am loath to recommend it but we may want to work with them," Hackett told Whyte.

"Oh, who are you talking about?" she inquired.

"Tell me, what do you know of Cerberus?" Hackett asked.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: I'm sorry it's taken so long. Life happened, school happened, shit happened. But I'm here once more with another chapter. I apologise for the fact that my chapters are short but I just struggle to write long chapters. Now we are once again going to jump ahead in time, to the start of Mass Effect 2, with Commander Alexis Shepard herself…**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think I own the Mass Effect or Halo franchises?**

**Onboard Lazarus Station**

"Wake up, Commander," came a fuzzy voice.

Eyelids fluttered revealing glimpses of startling green eyes.

"Shepard, do you hear me? Get out of that bed now – this facility is under attack," came the voice again, albeit slightly clearer this time.

The redhead on the operating table stirred, starting to sit up whilst massaging her jaw.

"Shepard. Your scars aren't healed yet, but I need you to get moving. This facility is under attack," came the clear, and now obviously female and Australian-accented, voice.

Alexis Shepard sat up, grimacing as pain lanced up her side.

"There's a pistol in the locker on the other side of the room. Hurry!"

Shepard swung off the bed, wincing slightly as pain once more lanced up her side.

"Grab the pistol and armour from the locker."

Shepard made her way across the room, grabbing the armour and pistol.

"You don't have time to wait around, Shepard. Grab your weapon and armour!"

"This pistol doesn't have a thermal clip," Shepard pointed out, annoyed.

"It's a med-bay. We'll get you a clip from… damn it! Keep your head down, Shepard! Shield yourself from the blast!" the voice ordered.

Shepard dived behind a nearby piece of cover just as the door exploded. Once the smoke cleared, Shepard stood up and moved toward the now open doorway.

"Someone's hacking security trying to kill you. Look for a thermal clip for your pistol."

Shepard walked through spotting some thermal clips on the ground. Picking one up and inserting it, she noticed what appeared to be an ammo counter. Wondering what was going on, Shepard decided to get answers later and take the spare clips with her.

"Looks like they set up a barricade to try holding the mechs off."

Vaulting over the barricade, Shepard ducked behind a crate as the woman shouted a warning. Leaning round the crate, Shepard fired upon an advancing mech.

"Keep moving. We need to get you to the shuttles," the voice told her after she had removed the mech's head with a well aimed pistol shot.

Proceeding up the stairs on the other side of the room, Shepard walked through the door at the top, at which point the voice decided to make itself known again.

"Shepard! Security mechs are closing in on your position. Take cover. Don't take any chances. Stay in cover while you take out those mechs."

Blowing the head off the first mech as she went, Shepard dived behind a nearby banister for cover. Leaning out, she took out another with another shot to the head before moving out of the way of a volley of ammunition. Briefly standing to shoot over her cover, Shepard put a round clean through one of the mechs head. The last moved at the last second, causing her first shot to hit the wall. The second liberated the head from the body.

"Nice work, Shepard. Coast is clear," the voice told her.

Shepard proceeded cautiously into the next corridor, using the corner as cover.

"Don't waste time. I can't keep the mechs distracted for long."

Entering a room at the end of the corridor, Shepard noticed a dead soldier with a grenade launcher lying next to him.

"More reinforcements heading your way. Grab the grenade launcher off the security officer's body."

"Hello, beautiful. Let's make some noise," Shepard muttered, picking up the weapon.

"Here come the mechs. Use the grenade launcher to take them out."

As the door opened on the level below, Shepard raised the grenade launcher with a slightly manic glint in her eye. Firing, she watched with a slight giggle as the mechs were destroyed and a nearby pipe burst and started spewing flames.

"Take the elevator down one floor," the woman on the intercom ordered her.

Doing as directed, she realised that, whilst the pipe bursting had looked cool to begin with, the fire was now between her and her exit. Sighing once, she flicked her shoulders forward to use a biotic charge. Coming out on the other side of the flames unharmed, she shook her head to get rid of a slight dizziness that had appeared. Passing through the door, she proceeded round the corner as the voice returned.

"You're doing… -Shepard. Head to the… -meet you…" the woman told Shepard, communication interspersed with static.

Shepard frowned slightly, continuing down the hallway.

"Shepard? -read me? I've got… -closing in… -position."

After that, the intercom played static for a moment before shutting off. Continuing, Shepard found a room with a couple of terminals. Checking them, she found them to be audio logs. One of them was from the woman on the intercom, now identified as Miranda. She was curious what would be worth spending four billion credits on. Reaching some stairs, she climbed up in time to see a man get shot by a giant mech.

Frowning slightly at her inability to help him, she opened the next door to reveal a dark-skinned man shooting at mechs across a chasm between two balconies. Running up next to him, she opened fire on the mechs.

"Shepard? What the hell…" he started, giving her a shocked glance.

Destroying the remaining mechs, Shepard started to lower her gun. Just then the door opened to reveal more mechs who immediately opened fire on the pair, forcing them to cover.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were still a work in progress?" the man asked her.

"Are you with Miranda?" Shepard asked him.

"Yeah… sorry. I forgot this is all new to you right now. I'm Jacob Taylor… I've been stationed here for-" he started.

"Hostiles detected," one of the mechs on the opposite balcony interrupted.

"Dammit!" Jacob shouted as a number of rounds narrowly missed his head.

Standing up, he shot one down before ducking back into cover.

"Things must be worse than I thought if Miranda's got you running around. I'll fill you in, but we better get you to the shuttle first," Jacob told Shepard.

"I know this isn't the best time, but I'm sick of stumbling around when I don't know what's going on," Shepard informed the man.

"Fair enough. I'll give you the quick version. You and your ship were attacked and destroyed. You were killed. Dead as dead can be when they brought you here. Our scientists spent the last two years putting you back together. You've been comatose, or worse, that whole time. Welcome back to your life," Jacob explained.

"This doesn't look like an Alliance facility," Shepard stated.

Jacob shook his head slightly.

"It isn't. I can't say much more than that for now. The Alliance officially declared you killed in action. The whole galaxy thinks you're dead. And if we don't get to those shuttles, they'll be right," Jacob remarked.

"Were there any other survivors from the Normandy?" Shepard asked, worried.

"I'll tell you what - you help me finish off these mechs, and I'll play Twenty Questions with you all day. We're low on thermal clips, but I'm a biotic. Just give the order when you want me to hit them with the good stuff," he told her before jumping up and lifting one of the mechs off the other balcony.

Through a use of bullets and biotics, the pair made short work of the mechs. Once they were done, Shepard turned to him with an expectant look.

"Okay. I promised I'd answer all your questions. What do you want to know?" he asked.

"You said they spent two years rebuilding me. How bad were my injuries?" she asked.

"I'm no doctor, but it was bad. When I first saw you, you were nothing but meat and tubes. Anywhere else, they'd have put you in a coffin. But Project Lazarus was different. Cutting-edge technology," the soldier explained.

"What do you mean? Cloning? Cybernetics?" Shepard prompted.

"I don't know the details. You'd have to ask the scientists. But I'm pretty sure you're not a clone. They wanted to bring you back exactly as you were. You're still you… you might just have a few extra bits and pieces now," Jacob elaborated.

"Do you know anything about this attack? Who's behind it, what they want?" she enquired.

"Damned if I know. I was getting ready for some shut-eye - then, bam. Bunch of explosions. Next thing I know, every damn mech in the place starts shooting… at us. I'm guessing it had to be an inside job. You'd need top security access to hack all the mechs," Jacob told the woman.

"The last thing I remember is the Normandy blowing up. Did anyone else make it?" Shepard asked, concern seeping into her voice.

"Just about everyone survived. A few servicemen from the lower decks didn't get out. Navigator Pressly was killed by an explosion. But everyone else, including the non-Alliance crew - the asari, Liara, and the quarian - they all made it out alive."

"Do you know what any of them are doing now?" Shepard asked him.

"I don't know, Commander. It's been two years. They've moved on. Left the Alliance. Could be anywhere."

"They were my team. If they knew I was alive, they'd come back." Shepard told him.

"Maybe you can track them down after we get off this station. If we get off this station," Jacob remarked.

"What's the quickest way to those shuttles?" Shepard asked, ready to go.

"Depends where the mechs are thickest. It's probably best if we-" Jacob began.

"Check. Check. Anyone on this frequency? Anybody still alive out there? Hello?" A voice interrupted him.

"Wilson? This is Jacob. I'm here with Commander Shepard. Just took out a wave of mechs over in D wing," Jacob responded.

"Shepard's alive? How the hell… never mind. You need to get her out of there. Get to the service tunnels and head for the network control room," responded Wilson.

"Roger that, Wilson. Stay on this frequency," Jacob told the other man.

"I think I remember a Wilson checking on me one time when I woke up…" Shepard told Jacob, trying to remember the incident with more clarity.

"That's him. He's the chief medical tech. Answers directly to Miranda. C'mon, the service tunnels are this way," he said, pointing to the door behind him.

Proceeding through the door, the pair jogged down the hall to the entrance to the service tunnels. Encountering some mechs on the way, they passed through the tunnels. Leaving the tunnels, Jacob contacted Wilson.

"Wilson? Find us another route out of here. Preferably one that doesn't lead straight into an enemy squad!"

"Oh God! They've found me! Help!" Wilson cried.

"Wilson? Where are you?" Jacob asked.

"Server Room B! Hurry! They're out of control!" Wilson called back frantically.

"Up those stairs, Shepard!" Jacob directed.

"Oh God! I'm hit! They shot me!" Wilson cried out in pain.

Reaching the top of the stairs, they ran through the door into the Server Room to find Wilson sitting against a crate with a hole through his leg. Grabbing some medigel from a nearby Medical Station, Shepard bent down and applied it to Wilson's leg.

"Thanks, Shepard. Never thought you'd save my life. Guess that makes us even now," Wilson groaned.

After a few minutes talking, which included arguing about whether Miranda was a traitor, a group of mechs walked through the other door. Using an Overload, Wilson was able to blow up a couple of canisters that took the mechs with them. Continuing toward the door, Jacob decided to speak up.

"OK, we took 'em down, but this is getting tense. Shepard, if I tell you who we work for, will you trust me?" Jacob asked.

"This really isn't the time, Jacob," Wilson interjected.

"We won't make it if she's expecting a shot in the back," Jacob retaliated.

"If you want to piss off the boss, it's your ass, Jacob," Wilson told the other man.

"The Lazarus Project, the program that rebuilt you… it's funded and controlled by Cerberus," Jacob told Shepard.

"I think I ran into Cerberus a few times while I was investigating Saren. Some kind of pro-human splinter group, right?" Shepard asked.

"Well, that's what the Alliance wants people to believe. But there's more to it. The Alliance declared you dead. They gave up. Cerberus spent a fortune to bring you back. Look, I'd be suspicious too. But right now, we have to work together. I thought you deserved to know what's what. Once we're off this station, I'll take you to the Illusive Man. He'll explain everything. I promise," Jacob finished.

"Illusive Man? Is he in charge of all this?" Shepard asked the two men.

"Yeah. That's not his real name, of course. Nobody knows who he really is," Wilson explained.

"It was a code name the Alliance used for him. It kinda stuck," Jacob added.

"I don't care what they did or what you say - I'm not working with terrorists," Shepard informed the two operatives.

"You can tell it to the boss. But after we've saved our butts. We're almost at the shuttle," Jacob said.

Leaving the Server Room, the trio proceeded a short distance down a corridor before going down some stairs. Rounding a corner, they came face-to-face with a giant mech standing at the other end of the hallway. Before it could open fire, there was a cry from the door next to it. The mech turned to look at the door as it opened and something grey smashed into the giant mech from the side, smashing it into the opposite wall and causing it to explode.

As the smoke from the explosion cleared, Shepard started to raise her gun at the mech standing in its place. Before she could fire, Jacob pushed her gun back down and started toward the mech. As the smoke completely cleared, Shepard took a moment to look at the mech. It was mostly grey, with some purple markings on it and a gold faceplate. It also had an obviously feminine figure.

"Thanks for the assist, 070. I appreciate it," Jacob said.

"Don't thank me 'til we're gone, Taylor. C'mon, shuttles this way," the mech answered, much to Shepard's shock.

Noticing Shepard's reaction, Jacob, Wilson and the mech chuckled.

"What's the matter? Never seen a SPARTAN?" the "mech" asked.

"Only on TV. I never realised you were so… big," Shepard said, still shocked.

"The armour makes us look bigger than we are. Lieutenant Alex-0704D of the CUFS, reporting for duty, Commander Shepard," the SPARTAN said, snapping a salute.

"At ease. What is a CUFS soldier doing here? With terrorists?" Shepard asked.

"Officially, the CUFS doesn't even know of this. Unofficially, the CUFS has worked on the Lazarus Project with Cerberus. 2.5 billion credits were provided by the CUFS out of the four billion eventually needed. However, our alliance with Cerberus only concerns this project. To allow the project to run smoother, we don't do anything to each other for the duration of this alliance. Mind you, I think we currently have more pressing concerns," Alex pointed out.

"Agreed. Let's go," Shepard ordered.

Moving into the next room, a group of mechs turned to fire on them.

"Great, more came to replace them," Alex groaned.

Stepping in front of Shepard, her shields flickered gold as the absorbed the high-speed rounds. Taking the assault rifle off her back, the SPARTAN sprayed the area with rounds, destroying a number of mechs and giving the other three humans time to fire more accurately. Having destroyed every mech on that level, the SPARTAN paused to reload her assault rifle.

Nodding to the Commander, the SPARTAN climbed the stairs on their right. The mechs on the level above immediately fired on the SPARTAN, whilst the rest of the team climbed the stairs to the left. The mechs were caught in crossfire, standing no chance and were destroyed quickly. The Lieutenant moved to pass the other three just as their shields flared, signalling the arrival of more mechs from behind them. The CUFS super-soldier pulled the trigger, decimating the mech squad almost instantly.

Moving through the now-open door at the other end of the balcony, Wilson jogged ahead to try and open the door.

"C'mon, through here. We're almost at the…" Wilson started to say before the door opened.

Standing behind the door was a rather curvy brunette clad in a rather tight jumpsuit.

"Miranda! But, you were…" Wilson said.

"Dead?" Miranda asked, shooting him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jacob yelled at her, running forward.

"My job. Wilson betrayed us all," Miranda responded, glancing dispassionately at Wilson's body.

"Even if you're sure, did he deserve that welcome?" Shepard asked, aiming at Miranda with her pistol.

"He sabotaged the security system, killed my staff and would have killed us," Miranda retaliated.

"You sure about that, Miranda? We've known Wilson for years. What if your wrong?" Jacob asked.

"I'm never wrong. I thought you'd have learned that by now, Jacob," Miranda responded loftily.

"You should have taken him alive. See what he knew," Shepard told the brunette.

"Too risky. I've put too much time and effort into bringing you back to life to let you get killed now," Miranda told Shepard.

"You really think Wilson's capable of that?" Jacob asked Miranda.

"Don't think he's capable of much anymore, do you?" remarked Alex, glancing at the body.

"If you say so. What's our next step?" Shepard asked.

"We get on the shuttle and go. My boss wants to speak to you," Miranda said.

"You mean the Illusive Man? I know you work for Cerberus," Shepard told the other woman.

"Ah, Jacob. I should've known your conscience would get the better of you," Miranda remarked.

"Lying to the commander is not the way to get her to join our cause," Jacob retaliated.

"And let's face it. If Shepard hadn't known, I would have told her," Alex interjected.

"Well, since we're getting everything out in the open, is there anything else you want to know before we go, Commander?" Miranda asked Shepard.

"Convenient that you show up just as we're leaving. Where were you during the attack?" Shepard asked, suspicious.

"Besides trying to save your life? Wilson figured out I was helping you, and he sent an army of mechs to take me out. I got here as soon as I could. Probably a little to soon, if you ask Wilson," Miranda commented.

"What about the rest of the people on this station?" Shepard asked.

"This is the evac area. If they're not here now, they're not coming," Miranda informed the Commander.

"We can't leave without knowing for sure. We need to go back and look," Shepard argued.

"Don't you get it? The only one worth saving is you. Everyone else is expendable," Miranda retorted.

"She's right. We all knew the risks when we signed up. Without you, there's no point to any of this," Jacob added.

"At this point, your safety is our top priority. If you go back in, all this will have been for nothing," Alex decided to add.

"Fine. Where are we going?" Shepard asked.

"Another Cerberus facility. The Illusive Man is waiting for you there," Miranda told him.

"As is Admiral Whyte," Alex added.

"I'm not sure I trust you," Shepard retorted.

"This is the only shuttle off the station. You want to stay and rot with the mechs, be my guest," Miranda responded.

"Or I'll just knock you out and you come along anyway," Alex added cheerfully.

"You're the Lazarus Project's director, aren't you?" Shepard continued after glancing at a chuckling Alex.

"That's right. I put two years of my life into this project - into you," Miranda told the other woman.

"What do Cerberus and the CUFS want from me?" Shepard asked the group.

"Maybe you should ask the Illusive Man and the Admiral when you meet them. They poured virtually unlimited resources into Lazarus. Obviously they have some kind of plan for you," Miranda concluded.

"I've had enough of this station to last a lifetime," Shepard stated.

"Or two, in your case," Miranda quipped.

Alex chuckled, already climbing into the shuttle.

"Come on," the SPARTAN called as she got in.

Once they were all aboard, the shuttle took off. Shortly, it disappeared into FTL.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: Right, hello again people. Another chapter, so soon after the last one too. Now, a few people have said they didn't like the last chapter very much. Well I'm sorry. I can't write action scenes particularly well so they won't be very detailed or anything. Certainly for now the story will also be the exact same as the game, just with some minor additions or differences. Onto Shepard's meeting with the Illusive Man and Admiral Whyte. Maybe, if we're lucky, I'll get to Freedom's Progress as well…**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think I own the Mass Effect or Halo franchises?**

**Onboard an unidentified Cerberus Station**

Alexis Shepard stepped out of the shuttle, followed by Alex. Looking around, she found herself in what looked like it could be a waiting room of some kind.

"Through that door, and then down the steps. They'll be waiting for you there," Alex said, stepping up next to Shepard and pointing toward a door on the other side of the room.

With that, the SPARTAN went and sat down on a seat nearby and removed her helmet, revealing a relatively pretty, pale face with a scar running from just above her left ear to just beside the right corner of her mouth. Her platinum blonde hair reached to her chin, framing her face nicely.

After noticing this, Shepard proceeded through the door and down the steps. Entering the room at the bottom, she found it to be empty except for a blue circle in the middle. Stepping into the circle, an orange grid began to rise up around her. Once it had completely appeared, a dark room appeared which only the star in the window lit.

Sitting in the room was a man dressed in a suit with dark hair that was starting to grey. He had bright blue cybernetic eyes and a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other. Standing next to him was a woman in a CUFS naval uniform with an admiral's insignia emblazoned on the chest. Her beautiful face was framed by black hair that had grey streaks running through it.

"Commander Shepard," the Illusive Man greeted.

"Illusive Man. Admiral. I thought we'd be meeting face-to-face," Shepard commented.

"A necessary precaution. Not unusual for people who know what we know," the Illusive Man said.

"You might be the reason I'm still alive, but that doesn't mean I trust you," Shepard told the pair.

"Shouldn't that be 'alive again', Commander. However, you need to put your personal feelings aside," Whyte told the other woman.

"She's right. Humanity is up against the greatest threat of our brief existence," the Illusive Man explained.

Admiral Whyte rolled her eyes, but didn't bother to correct him. Again.

"The Reapers," Shepard stated.

"Good to see your memory's still intact. How are you feeling?" the Illusive Man asked.

"You need to earn the right to ask me those kinds of questions," Shepard told him.

"Cerberus isn't as evil as you believe. You and I are on the same side; we just have different methods," the Illusive Man explained.

"Very different," Whyte added.

"Cut to the chase. What are the Reapers doing that made you decide to bring me back?" Shepard inquired.

The Illusive Man stood up.

"We're at war. Nobody wants to admit it, but humanity is under attack. While you've been sleeping, entire colonies have been disappearing. Human colonies. We believe it's someone working for the Reapers. Just as Saren and the Geth aided Sovereign. You've seen it yourself. You bested all of them. That's just one reason we chose you," the man explained.

"If this is a threat against humanity, you need to mobilise the Alliance," Shepard said.

"We've tried. Hell, even Hackett has tried. None of our plans worked," Whyte told Shepard.

"They suffered substantial losses fighting Sovereign. They're rebuilding, still stretched to thin to waste resources verifying the Reaper threat. Blaming the abductions on mercs and pirates is easier. And more convenient," the Illusive Man added.

"You could have trained an entire army for what you spent to bring me back. And I don't see your motivation, Admiral," Shepard pointed out.

"You're unique. Not just in ability or what you've experienced, but in what you represent. You stood for humanity at a key moment. You're more than a soldier - you're a symbol. And I don't know if the Reapers understand fear, but you killed one. They have to respect that," the Illusive Man explained.

"I have no major interest in the colonies, true. But they are still innocents. However, as he said, you are a symbol. When the Reapers come, and they will come, you may be the only person capable of uniting everyone. And we're going to need that," the Admiral elaborated.

"Sovereign was trying to harvest all life in the galaxy. Why would the Reapers attack a few human colonies?" Shepard asked.

"Hundreds of thousands of colonists have vanished. I'd say that fits the definition of 'harvesting.' Nobody's paying attention because it's random and the attacks occur in remote locations," Whyte explained.

"I don't know why they've suddenly targeted humanity. Maybe you got their attention when you killed one of them," the man added.

"Fighting a war doesn't seem like Cerberus and aren't the CUFS prohibited from interfering in Citadel space. Why are you involved?" Shepard asked.

"You're correct. However, most of the colonies lie outside Citadel space so we're perfectly entitled to get involved," Whyte said.

"Cerberus is committed to the advancement and preservation of humanity. If the Reapers are targeting us, trying to wipe us out, Cerberus will stop them. If we wait for politicians or the Alliance to act… no more human colonies will be left," the Illusive Man explained.

"If what you say is true… if the Reapers are behind this… I'd consider helping you," Shepard decided.

"I'd be disappointed if you accepted any of this without seeing for yourself. I have a shuttle ready to take you to Freedom's Progress, the latest colony to be abducted. Miranda, Jacob and Alex will brief you," the Illusive Man said, sitting down again.

"Miranda killed Wilson in cold blood. Jacob's just a gun for hire. Alex seems to be more of a robot than a person most of the time. You expect me to trust them?" Shepard demanded, sceptical.

"Wilson was one of my best agents. But he was a traitor. Miranda did exactly what I expected of her. And she saved your life in more ways than one. Jacob's a soldier, one of the best. He's never fully trusted me, but he's always been honest about it," the Illusive Man told Shepard.

"Alex is a SPARTAN. They're the best. Her orders are to stick with you. She'll follow your orders without question unless a member of CUFSAF HIGHCOM says differently. You should be fine with them… for now," Whyte added.

"Is this a volunteer job, or am I being volunteered?" Shepard asked.

"You always have a choice, Shepard. If you don't find the evidence we're both looking for, we can part ways. But first go to Freedom's Progress. Find any clues you can. Who's abducting the colonies? Do they have any connection to the Reapers? We brought you back. It's up to you to do the rest," the Illusive Man concluded.

With that, the room disappeared and the orange grid sank back into the ground. Turning, Shepard returned back upstairs. After talking with Miranda and Jacob, she walked over to Alex.

"Commander. How can I help?" Alex asked, saluting as Shepard approached.

"You can leave the formalities. Why are you here?" Shepard asked.

"Admiral Whyte wanted someone to keep an eye on what Cerberus did to you. I was currently unassigned so I was sent," Alex explained.

"But why send a SPARTAN? From what I understand, you guys are among the best in the CUFS," Shepard said.

"Precisely. If anything had gone wrong and Cerberus turned against us, she wanted someone who would be able to get out. It was either send a SPARTAN or send a Sangheili and I don't think Cerberus would have appreciated a non-human being present," Alex explained.

"What do you know about the colony?" Shepard queried.

"Only that it's a human colony outside Citadel space and that it's just gone dark. Other than that, I got nothing," Alex responded.

"Alright. Be ready to leave," Shepard ordered.

"Yes, ma'am. Ready when you are," Alex said, saluting again before sitting down.

Shepard looked around before ordering the squad to the shuttle. Once on the way to Freedom's Progress, Miranda spoke up.

"We should be there shortly, Shepard. The Illusive Man put us under your command. Do you have any orders?" the brunette asked.

"Are you sure you'll be comfortable following my orders?" Shepard probed.

"We didn't bring you back from the dead just to second-guess you, Commander. If the Illusive Man put you in charge, you're in charge," Jacob said.

"Admiral Whyte told me to follow your orders until further notice. I'm with you," Alex said when Shepard glanced at her.

"What makes you think this investigation will turn up anything new?" Shepard asked.

"At other colonies, official investigators got there first. Sometimes looters or salvage teams as well. We're hoping to be the first ones there this time. Maybe find clues before somebody else disturbs the scene," Jacob informed the Commander.

"What did you find at the other colonies?" Shepard asked.

"Nothing. No sign of attack, no corpses. Not even a trace of unusual genetic material to give us a clue. They just disappear, and we've got no target to go after," Jacob explained.

"Our first priority is to look for survivors," Shepard said.

"That's unlikely, Commander. No one was left at the other colonies. They were completely deserted," Miranda responded.

"Be nice to find somebody. Anything's better than another ghost town," Jacob said.

"Compared to some of what I've seen, a ghost town sounds lovely," Alex remarked.

As they finished their conversation, the shuttle swooped down and landed in amongst the pre-fab homes. Opening the door, Shepard cautiously stepped out followed by the rest of the squad. Shepard drew an assault rifle off her back, Jacob brought out a shotgun, Miranda drew her SMG and Alex pulled a CUFS sniper rifle. Entering the nearest building, they found it empty except for the food on the table.

"Looks like everyone got up and left right in the middle of dinner," Jacob commented.

"Even my cooking isn't bad enough to cause that reaction," Alex joked.

Exiting the building, they proceeded into a small courtyard.

"Strange. No bodies. No structural damage. No signs of battle," Miranda remarked.

Opening a large gate on the other side of the courtyard, they found themselves facing a number of mechs across a small chasm.

"Looks like this isn't such a ghost town after all," Alex quipped, lining up her sniper.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note: Hi guys and gals. I have returned and I am proud of myself for returning so promptly (by my standards). Just to clarify something that people are still complaining about: for now, I will pretty much just be copying the game, albeit with some differences. And, come Mass Effect 3, I will not be using Star Brats or Space Magic. I will also only do the missions that the SPARTAN will be on, which you can request but you have to give me a good reason to include it. Bonus points for anyone who guesses what class Shepard is. Now then, onward to Freedom's Progress…**

**Human Colony Freedom's Progress**

Shepard cursed, ducking behind a nearby wall as her shields dropped. A short distance away, Miranda stood up to fire at a mech with her SMG whilst Jacob used biotics to pull one in close before shredding it with his shotgun. The SPARTAN, meanwhile, stood in the centre of the battlefield, calmly firing accurate shots from her sniper as her shields flared gold around her.

Shields recharged, Shepard leaned out to plant a couple of rounds into the head and body of a mech. A trio of FENRIS mechs ran toward the SPARTAN, who paused her firing long enough to stamp on the head of the first before kicking the second hard enough to send it flying into the last one. Firing one last shot into the final mech, the SPARTAN lowered her rifle.

"Area clear, Commander," she reported, scanning the area.

"Those mechs shouldn't have been hostile. They should have recognized us as human," Jacob said.

"Someone reprogrammed them to attack on sight. We're not alone here," Miranda responded.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. I hadn't guessed," Alex retorted, sarcasm dripping from every letter.

They proceeded through one of the nearby buildings, with Miranda glaring at the SPARTAN the whole way. After a brief disagreement with some more mechs, Shepard opened the next building while Alex went round the side of the building briefly to "check something out" as she put it. Sitting around a table inside were a group of quarians who immediately went for their weapons, prompting Shepard's group to do the same.

"Stop right there!" one of the quarians, obviously the leader shouted.

"Prazza! You said you'd let me handle this! Wait… Shepard?" a female quarian asked, shocked.

"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives!" the now identified Prazza responded, starting to raise his weapon once more.

"Put those weapons down! Shepard? Is that… You're alive?" the female asked.

"Remember when I gave you that geth data, Tali? Did it help you complete your Pilgrimage?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, it did. Prazza, weapons down. This is definitely Commander Shepard," Tali ordered.

"Why is your old commander working for Cerberus?" Prazza asked, highly suspicious.

"I don't know. Maybe we should ask," Tali retorted.

"I nearly died, Tali. Cerberus spent two years rebuilding me. They want me to investigate attacks on human colonies," Shepard answered.

"Likely story. No organization would commit so many resources to bring back one soldier," Prazza refuted.

"You haven't seen Shepard in action, Prazza. Trust me. It was money well spent. Perhaps we can work together. We're here looking for a young quarian named Veetor. He was here on Pilgrimage," Tali explained to Shepard.

"Isn't that a little strange? A quarian visiting a remote human colony?" Shepard wondered aloud.

"Quarians can choose where they go on Pilgrimage. Veetor liked the idea of helping a small settlement. He was always… nervous in crowds," Tali elaborated.

"She means he was unstable. Combine that with damage to his suits CO2 scrubbers and an infection from an open-air exposure, and he's likely delirious," Prazza added.

"When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the far side of town. We suspect he also programmed the mechs to attack anything that moved," Tali continued.

"Veetor's the only one who can tell us what happened here. We should work together to find him," Shepard suggested.

"Good idea. You'll need two teams to get past the drones, anyway," Tali pointed out.

"Now we're working with Cerberus?" Prazza complained.

"No, Prazza, you're working for me. If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship. Head for the warehouse through the centre of the colony. We'll circle around the far side and draw off some of the drones to clear you a path," Tali said.

"Your people really don't like Cerberus. What did I miss?" Shepard asked.

"They killed our people, infiltrated our flotilla, and tried to blow up one of our ships," Prazza growled.

"That's not how I would have explained it, exactly. It was nothing personal," Miranda responded.

"Actually, it kinda was personal. The one thing that was inaccurate was the blowing up bit. That was a last resort. Either way, it almost dissolved the temporary alliance then and there," Alex told everyone as she walked in.

"And this would be?" Prazza asked, instantly on guard.

"Lieutenant Sierra-0704D. Oh, and I'm not here. Just point that out now," Alex added.

"What do you mean you're not here? Of course you're here, I can see you. And what sort of a name is that, anyway?" Prazza asked, clearly sceptical.

"I meant that if you mention I was here, we'll deny that with forged evidence. And that would be an identifier number," Alex explained.

"You're one of those CUFS SPARTANs, aren't you?" Prazza demanded.

"I think we have more important things to attend to than having irrelevant discussions. Don't we have a job to do, Commander?" Alex said, indicating an end to the discussion.

"Agreed. We work together to get Veetor," Tali said.

"Make sure to keep in radio contact," Shepard ordered.

"Will do. Good luck, Shepard. Whatever happens… it's good to have you back," Tali said before following the other quarians out of the building.

Exiting the building as well, Shepard's radio almost instantly came to life.

"Be careful, Shepard. There's a squad of security drones up ahead," Tali informed her.

"Thanks for the warning. We'll take care of them," Jacob answered for the squad.

Fighting their way past the drones, the team proceeded across a walkway before Tali's voice came over the radio once more.

"Shepard! Prazza and his squad rushed on ahead. I told them to wait, but they wouldn't listen! They want to find Veetor and take him away before you get here!" Tali explained desperately.

"We should have expected this," Miranda commented.

"Come on! We can still catch them," Jacob added.

The group broke into a sprint, gunning down a couple of drones as they went. As they neared the loading docks, Tali once again made herself known.

"Hurry, Shepard! We're inside the loading docks. Veetor reprogrammed a pair of heavy mechs! They're tearing Prazza's squad apart!" Tali said, sounding panicked.

"They did want to get to Veetor first," Miranda remarked.

"Get your squad into cover and I'll open the loading bay doors," Tali told them.

"We'll take cover by the doors. Shepard, you take point," Miranda said.

"Better idea. I'll take point and take one of the mechs. You three deal with the other one," Alex suggested.

"Good plan. We'll go with it," Shepard agreed.

Miranda ran up to the left of the door, pressing herself against the wall while Jacob did the same on the other side. Shepard ducked behind a chest high wall in front of the door while Alex stood next to him.

As the door opened, the team was greeted by the sight of two heavy mechs slaughtering some of the last of the quarians. The team ran forward, getting into cover behind various crates before the mechs noticed them.

"Those mechs' have got heavy armour plating. Those quarians never stood a chance," Jacob commented.

"You take the one on the right, I'll deal with the one on the left," Alex said before moving off so that she was closer to her target.

"This is going to be one tough son-of-a-bitch to take down," Miranda remarked as she glanced at their mech.

"I'm in position. Ready when you are, Shepard," Alex reported over the radio.

"Three… Two… One… Go!" Shepard ordered.

With that, the three biotics stood up and fired at the mech, causing both to turn to them. Before they could open fire, however, a large grey object charging toward it at high speed distracted one of them. The mech had barely a second to compute this before half a ton of metal and muscle collided with it, sending it staggering back. The SPARTAN followed up by smashing a fist into the chest of the mech, severely denting it. As it brought one of its arms around to hit her, she grabbed the arm before planting one foot on its chest and tearing its arm off. The mech paused to look at where its arm had been. It looked up again just in time to see a fist speeding towards its optics.

The SPARTAN stepped back from the now-decapitated mech and glanced over to the other one in time to see Shepard execute a biotic charge, knocking it off balance before she hit it with a warp to finish it off.

Regrouping, Shepard's team proceeded toward the warehouse. Opening the door, they were greeted by the sight of a quarian sitting in front of a number of computer screens, muttering to himself.

"Monsters coming back. Mechs will protect. Safe from swarms. Have to hide. No monsters. No swarms. No-no-no-no-no," the quarian muttered as he typed.

"Veetor?" Shepard asked as she walked up behind him.

"No Veetor. Not here. Swarms can't find. Monsters coming. Have to hide," he kept muttering.

"Nobody's going to hurt you anymore," Shepard tried to reassure the frantic quarian.

"I don't think he can hear you, Commander," Jacob commented.

Activating her omni-tool, Shepard put in a couple of commands before all of the screens went blank. Veetor stopped, looking up at the screens before noticing the group behind him and getting up.

"You're human. Where did you hide? How come they didn't find you?" Veetor asked them.

"Who didn't find us?" asked Miranda.

"The… the monsters. The swarms. They took everyone," Veetor started to ramble.

"Why didn't the colonists fight back, Veetor? What happened?" Shepard interrupted.

"You don't know. You didn't see. But I see everything," Veetor said before turning on the screens, which showed security footage from earlier on.

It showed a few bugs flying around as though searching for something, whilst humanoid bug looking beings escorted a convoy of pods along the walkway below.

"Looks like security footage. He must have pieced it together manually," Miranda commented.

"What the hell is that?" Jacob asked.

"My God. I think it's a Collector," Miranda said, shocked.

"Is that some kind of alien?" Shepard queried.

"Species that live beyond the Omega 4 Relay. _Very _rare for anyone to see them," Alex told Shepard.

"They usually work through intermediaries, like slavers or hired mercenaries. If they're involved with the Reapers somehow, it could explain what happened to the colonies," Miranda continued.

"The Collectors have advanced technology. They could have a weapon that disables entire colonies at once," Jacob added.

"The seeker swarms. No one can hide. The seekers find you. Freeze you. Then the monsters take you away," Veetor muttered.

"Tell me more about these swarms," Shepard said.

Asking Veetor a couple more questions, the quarian revealed he had various readings from the Collectors and the swarms, causing Miranda to perk up.

"We need to get this data to the Illusive Man. Grab the quarian and call the shuttle to come pick us up," Miranda said.

"What? Veetor is injured. He needs treatment, not an interrogation!" exclaimed Tali as she walked in.

"We won't hurt him. We just need to see if he knows anything else. He'll be returned unharmed," Jacob tried to reassure her.

"Your people tried to betray us once already. If we give him to you, we'll never get the intel we need," Miranda argued, ruining Jacob's attempts at reassurance.

"Prazza was an idiot, and he and his men paid for it. You're welcome to take Veetor's omni-tool data, but please. Just let me take him," Tali pleaded.

"You don't have to take Veetor and go. We could work together. Just like old times," Shepard suggested.

"I want to but I can't. I've got a mission of my own. It's too important for me to abandon, even for you. When it's over, and I'm still alive, we'll see what happens," Tali told the Commander.

"He's traumatised, and he needs medical care. Tali will give us the omni-tool data and take him to the flotilla," Shepard told the others.

"Understood, Commander," Miranda said, annoyance obvious.

"Oh, grow up. You don't always get what you want," muttered Alex, earning her a glare from Miranda.

"Thank you, Shepard. I'm glad you're still the one giving the orders. Good luck out there. If I find anything that can help you, I'll let you know," Tali said.

"We're ready for pickup," Jacob told the shuttle pilot over the radio.

**Onboard an unidentified Cerberus Station**

The holographic grid disappeared back into the floor after Shepard's meeting with the Illusive Man, the Admiral having been absent. So she was to go to Omega and pickup a Doctor Mordin Solus. And the thing about a pilot she could trust? The only way that was happening was if…

"Hey, Commander. Just like old times, huh?" came the voice of Jeff "Joker" Moreau from behind her.

"I can't believe it's you, Joker," remarked Shepard as they walked along a corridor.

"Look who's talking. I saw you get spaced," Joker quipped.

"Got lucky, with a lot of strings attached. How'd you get here?" Shepard asked him.

"It all fell apart without you, Commander. Everything you stirred up, the Council just wanted it gone. Team was broken up, records sealed, and I was grounded. The Alliance took away the only thing that mattered to me. Hell yeah I joined Cerberus," Joker explained, as they came to a halt next to a window with darkness on the other side.

"You really trust the Illusive Man?" she asked him, sceptical.

"I don't trust anyone who makes more than I do. But they aren't all bad. Saved your life. Let me fly - And there's this. They only told me last night," he said.

As he said that, lights started coming on in the room below, revealing a vessel that looked like a larger version of the _SSV Normandy_, albeit with a small turret on each wing and SR2 written on the side along with the Cerberus logo.

"It's good to be home, huh, Commander?" remarked Joker.

"I guess we'll have to give her a name," responded Shepard.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note: Hiya, everybody. I'm back, on holiday for a week and likely to write more because of it. I've added another room to the Normandy, which lies between the port observation and the life support room. Now, we move on to the Normandy and the first recruitment…**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think I own the Mass Effect or Halo franchises?**

**Onboard the _Normandy_**

"Welcome aboard the new Normandy, Commander," said Jacob.

"I've been looking over the dossiers. I'd strongly recommend starting by acquiring Mordin Solus, the salarian professor on Omega. We know the Collectors use some kind of advanced technology to immobilize their victims. We'll need him to develop a countermeasure to protect us," Miranda said.

"Without that countermeasure, we'll be helpless if we ever run into the Collectors," Shepard agreed.

"Acquiring Professor Solus seems like the most logical place to start," said a female voice.

"Who are you?" Shepard asked.

"I am the _Normandy_'s Artificial Intelligence. The crew like to refer to me as EDI," the voice said as a hologram of a young asari commando appeared behind Shepard.

"Helmsmen aren't happy when someone takes control of a ship away from them. Especially Joker," Shepard remarked.

"I do not helm the ship. Mr Moreau's talents will not go to waste. During combat, I operate the electronic warfare and cyberwarfare suites. I can also control the turrets on the wings if necessary. I am also responsible for the slipspace drive. Beyond that, I cannot interface with the ship's systems. I observe and offer analysis and advice, nothing more," EDI said.

"Slipspace drive?" Shepard asked the three with him.

"CUFS technology. It's what we use for FTL. It was decided that there should be one installed here to allow for emergency travel at any time. However, it is for emergencies only and runs off a separate smaller reactor. There is a CUFS engineer onboard who is responsible for maintaining it and the other pieces of CUFS technology onboard," Alex explained.

"Right. I'm guessing it takes more than just the four of us plus Joker to fly this ship," Shepard commented.

"The _Normandy_ has a full crew. They're at their stations awaiting your orders," Miranda told him.

"Final preparations for takeoff are complete, Commander. When you're ready to go, just pick a destination from the galaxy map in the CIC and I'll plot a course," Joker reported.

"Jacob and I should return to our posts. Come find us if you have any questions," Miranda said, before her walked off.

Jacob saluted once, before imitating her and leaving.

"If you want me, I'll be in my room, Commander," Alex said, before leaving as well.

After speaking to Joker, Jacob, Miranda and various other crewmembers, Shepard went to speak to the SPARTAN. Opening the door, Shepard to a moment to look at the room she was in. It was moderately sized, with weapons hanging from the wall next to the bed in the corner. There was a bench-press in the other corner as well as a punch bag in the middle of the room.

Alex was standing next to the erratically swinging punch bag, hitting it when it got close. She was dressed in a black, low-cut tank top that showed of her exceedingly well-toned stomach as well as a pair of black shorts.

As Shepard walked in, Alex hit the punch bag hard enough to send it crashing into the ceiling before catching it with one hand to stop it. Once it stopped swinging, she turned to the Commander and saluted.

"Commander," Alex acknowledged.

"Alex. How are you settling in?" Shepard asked.

"Fine. It's a good room, bigger than what I'm used to having when I'm on my own on a ship. Nice though," Alex answered.

"You certainly seem to have made it your own," Shepard commented.

"Yeah. I would offer you the use of the punch bag but you'd probably injure your hand. It's filled with lead shavings," Alex added at Shepard's confused look.

"OK. I think I'll pass on that," Shepard remarked.

"You're welcome to use the bench-press though. Just make sure you look at the numbers seeing as how it's a SPARTAN one, so the smaller ones are ten kilos and the larger ones twenty," Alex warned the other woman.

"What can you tell me about the ship?" Shepard asked.

"As far as I know, it's basically the _SSV Normandy_ but bigger and with some upgrades from the CUFS," Alex said.

"What kind of things did the CUFS add?" Shepard asked.

"A slipspace drive, twin turrets, a plasma torpedo launcher, a slipspace communicator in addition to the QEC and a shielding system. We also helped create EDI. The Normandy also has our stealth technology, which allows it to become invisible except for a slight shimmer. In addition, there's also a Huragok, Brighter Than Light, onboard to maintain the CUFS stuff and help with other maintenance," Alex summed up.

"What's so special about SPARTANs? I mean, I know you're good, but why?" the Commander asked.

"Well, in the case of us SPARTAN-IVs, we're volunteers who are trained and then augmented. I volunteered when I was 16 and was accepted. All of the SPARTAN-IVs were recruited as children between 16 and 18. We were rigorously trained to the extent that some would call it brutal. We trained to become the best for ten years before being augmented and training for another two years with the augmentations. By the time we were done, we were the best humanity had to offer, after the SPARTAN-IIs and SPARTAN-IIIs. The twos and threes were faster, stronger and better than us, but there are more of us and we still out-class all but the best fighters," Alex finished proudly.

"Oh? Have you ever fought a krogan?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah. Tough son of a bitch, mainly because he just kept getting back up. At least, he did until I stuck a pole through his skull, spine and pelvis. One of the twos though, on one of the few missions that they still do, took on three krogan at once completely unarmed. Fred-104 walked away unscathed, the krogan were only recognized as such by their DNA. When I saw him on his way back, he said that he had only challenged them to a fist-fight because he thought they would be tough," Alex told Shepard, respect and awe colouring her voice as she spoke of the elder SPARTAN.

"Well, I'm glad to have you along, SPARTAN," Shepard told her.

"Glad too be along, Commander," Alex responded as she turned back to the punch bag.

After a brief stop on the Citadel to get Shepard's reinstated as a Spectre and pick up a thief called Kasumi Goto, the _Normandy _had arrived at Omega. Speaking to Aria T'Loak resulted in Shepard deciding to go to Archangel's aid. So Shepard, Jacob, Miranda, Kasumi and Alex found themselves on a bridge preparing to pretend to storm Archangel's base.

"I got a bad feeling about this, ma'am. We should have sabotaged that gunship," Alex muttered.

"Too late now. Let's go," Shepard ordered.

Working their way across the bridge, they made it into the building. Alex advanced first, followed by Shepard, Jacob, Miranda and Kasumi. Immediately upon entering, Alex rushed forward, much to the confusion of others. There was a loud crack as bones snapped under pressure. Soon the others realized that Alex had just snapped the neck of a bomb tech. This meant that the bomb wouldn't detonate. It also meant they were now identified as traitors.

Wiping out the freelancers with the aid of Archangel, the team soon ran out of targets. Walking upstairs, they entered the room where Archangel was, only to find a turian crouched next to the window.

"Archangel?" Shepard asked.

The turian raised a talon before returning it to the sniper rifle in his hands. Pulling the trigger, a merc fell out from behind a pillar. Standing, the turian walked over to a crate and sat down, removing his helmet.

"Shepard," responded Garrus Vakarian.


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Note: Hello again, everybody-who-is-still-reading. Told you there would be faster updates. Whilst I am aware that Garm probably can't actually heal as fast as he is depicted healing, Alex needed a bit of a challenge. That challenge comes in the form of a relatively graphic fight. We're going to wrap up with Garrus (Woohoo!) now …**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think I own the Mass Effect or Halo franchises?**

**Onboard Omega Station**

"I thought you were dead," Garrus accused.

"Garrus! What are you doing here?" Shepard asked, grinning.

"Just keeping my skills sharp. A little target practice," Garrus joked.

"You OK?" Shepard queried, concerned.

"Been better, but it sure is good to see a friendly face. Killing mercs is hard work. Especially on my own," the turian remarked.

"What are you doing out here on Omega?" Shepard asked as Alex went over to the window overlooking the bridge.

"I got fed up with all the bureaucratic crap on the Citadel. Figured I could do more good on my own. At least it's not hard to find criminals here. All I have to do is point my gun and shoot," Garrus remarked.

"How'd you manage to piss off every major merc organization in the Terminus Systems?" Shepard asked, impressed.

"It wasn't easy. I really had to work at it," Garrus joked, earning a chuckle from the SPARTAN at the window.

"I am amazed that they teamed up to fight me. They must _really _hate me," Garrus continued.

"Since when did you start calling yourself Archangel?" Shepard asked, amused.

"It's just a name the locals gave me. For all my good deeds. I don't mind it, but please… it's just Garrus to you," the turian told her with a slight chuckle.

"You nailed me good a couple of times, by the way," Shepard commented.

"Concussive rounds only. No harm done. Didn't want the mercs getting suspicious," Garrus explained.

At Shepard's sound of disbelief, Garrus smirked a bit.

"If I wanted to do more than take your shields down, I'd have done it. Besides, you were taking your sweet time. I needed to get you moving," the turian accused.

"Well, we got here, but I don't think getting out will be quite as easy," the Commander commented.

"No, it won't. That bridge has saved my life… funnelling all those witless idiots into scope. But it works both ways. They'll slaughter us if we try to get out that way," Garrus pointed out.

"So we just sit here and wait for them to take us out?" Miranda exclaimed.

"It's not all that bad. This place has held them off so far. And with the five of you… I suggest we hold this location, wait for a crack in their defences, and take our chances. It's not a perfect plan, but it's a plan," Garrus said.

"I was thinking something similar, turian," Alex commented from her spot against the window frame.

"If we fight as a team, we'll hold them off," Shepard agreed.

"You're right. Their numbers won't help them in here, anyway. Let's see what they're up to…" Garrus remarked as he walked over to the window.

"Looks like they know their infiltration team failed," Alex commented, using her helmet to zoom in.

"Take a look. Scouts. Eclipse, I think," Garrus said, passing his sniper to Shepard so she could see.

Through the scope, Shepard watched a group of mechs come over the barricade at the other end of the bridge.

"That looks like a lot more than scouts," Shepard said as she handed the sniper back to Garrus.

"Indeed. We better get ready. I'll stay up here. I can do a lot of damage from this vantage point. You… you can do what you do best. Just like old times, Shepard," Garrus commented, lining up his sniper.

Alex swung her sniper rifle off her back as well, aiming at the approaching Eclipse mechs. Shepard, Jacob, Miranda and Kasumi ran back downstairs, pulling out weapons as they went. As they ducked into cover on the bridge, a pair of mechs fell to the two snipers on the balcony. Leaning out, Shepard through a singularity into their midst, which detonated when Miranda threw in a warp. Using a biotic charge, Shepard launched herself into the midst of the mechs, smashing one into a wall as she collided with it. She then set about systematically blowing them apart with either the pistol in her left hand or the SMG in her right as she moved back toward cover.

As the last Eclipse merc fell, the heavy mech was dropped onto the bridge by a crane.

"Damn it. They're sending out the heavy mechs," Garrus pointed out, concerned.

"That won't be an issue," Alex responded from beside him.

As she spoke, the mech turned and fired at the Eclipse mercs following it, eliciting a shocked chuckle from Garrus. As the two snipers went back to work, so did the team on the bridge. The result was that even the Eclipse leader Jaroth didn't last very long once they wandered into either the scopes of the SPARTAN and the vigilante or the firing arcs of Shepard's group on the bridge.

"Looks like that's all of them. Come find me before they regroup," Garrus suggested as the last merc fell.

"You're kicking ass, Shepard. They barely touched me," Garrus said when Shepard's group rejoined the snipers.

"Wanna hope so. She cost a lot of money to bring back," Alex muttered under her breath.

"And we got Jaroth in the process. I've been hunting that little bastard for months," Garrus remarked with glee.

"Why were you after him?" Shepard asked.

"He's been shipping tainted eezo all over Citadel space. Half the goods I seized back at C-Sec came from his team here on Omega. I took out a big shipment a while back and killed his top lieutenant in the process. Not surprised he decided to work with the other mercs after that," Garrus said.

"We've still got Blood Pack and Blue Suns left. Think we can make a break for it?" Shepard asked him.

"Maybe. Let's see what they're up to," Garrus said, turning toward the window.

"They've reinforced the other side… heavily. Even I might struggle with all that they've put there. But they're not coming over the bridge yet. They must be waiting for something," Alex reported from the window.

Just then, there was an explosion downstairs followed by a klaxon going off.

"What the hell was that?" asked Miranda.

"What they were waiting for," Alex remarked.

"Damn it. They've breached the lower level. Well, they had to use their brains eventually. You'd better get down there, Shepard. I'll keep the bridge clear," Garrus suggested.

"Let's split up - keep one of my team here," Shepard said.

"You sure? Who knows what you'll find down there," Garrus answered.

"Alex, stay with Garrus. Keep him alive," Shepard told the SPARTAN, who was leaning against the window frame.

"Understood, Commander. I'll make sure he walks away," Alex remarked.

"Thanks, Shepard. You better get going," Garrus said.

"How do I get to the basement?" Shepard asked.

"Go down a level - the basement door is on the west side of the main room, behind the stairs. I'll radio directions if you need help… but you've got to get down there quick. Good luck," Garrus said before joining the SPARTAN at the window.

After Shepard left, the two snipers set their eyes on their scopes and concentrated on keeping the bridge clear. After a while, Garrus glanced at his omni-tool to check Shepard's progress.

"Get to the console and close that shutter before they can get through!" Garrus directed.

Keeping half an eye on his omni-tool and taking aim at a merc, he put a round through the Vorcha's head.

"There's two more shutters. Get them closed fast," Garrus told Shepard over the radio.

At that point, the mercs made a major push, forcing Garrus to concentrate on keeping the bridge clear alongside the SPARTAN. After reducing their numbers, Garrus was able to once again contact Shepard.

"Find the large shutters and seal them," Garrus told Shepard.

Alex put a round through the final merc's head, having cleared the bridge temporarily. Pulling out her assault rifle, she lined it up on the bridge.

"I'm low on ammo for my sniper. As a result, I'm saving what I have got for later," she told Garrus when he shot her a confused look.

Nodding in agreement, Garrus fired on a merc on the other side of the barricade.

"Just one more shutter. Hurry!" he spoke into his communicator after checking his omni-tool.

"We've got contacts. I almost feel sorry for the suckers. Keyword being 'almost'," Alex said to everyone else.

With a chuckle, Garrus turned back to the bridge, picking off a merc. Alex was firing off bursts of assault rifle fire that served the dual purpose of suppressing them and killing any that were stupid enough to stick their heads' out.

After a while, the sound of fusion cutters reached the ears of the pair causing them to turn and glance at the door. Alex then quickly turned back to the bridge and gunned down the mercs that had tried to take advantage of their momentary distraction, while Garrus contacted Shepard.

"Get back here, Shepard. They're coming in through the doors," Garrus told her.

The door slid open to reveal a krogan, obviously the leader, accompanied by a group of vorcha and other krogan. The leader let out a roar as they entered.

"Rip them to shreds!" the krogan bellowed, as one of the vorcha took a round to the head.

Looking down at the vorcha before looking up at Garrus, the krogan grinned.

"Watch my back. I'll deal with Archangel," the krogan ordered.

"Damn it. Garm's here with his Blood Pack. This isn't going to be easy," Garrus groaned.

"Leave Garm to me. You just keep his cronies off my back," Alex told the turian.

As Garm entered the room where they were, Alex stood up and turned to face him.

"Huh. You look like one of the legendary SPARTANS of the Confederacy. Shame I have to kill you," Garm chuckled.

"One of us will be walking away from this, mate, and I can guarantee it won't be you," Alex retorted.

"You've got quad, facing me alone. I will enjoy killing you," said the krogan before charging.

What he did not expect was for Alex to charge at him as well. There was a loud crash as the two collided, the krogan being lifted off his feet by the force with which the half-ton of SPARTAN and MJOLNIR hit him. He smashed against a nearby crate, sending it sliding across the room. Standing up despite his broken ribs, fractured arm and cracked pelvis, he grinned at the SPARTAN.

"Is that all you've got, weakling?" Garm asked.

"No. I usually don't hit an enemy when they're down if I don't have to. Mind you, you're starting to annoy me, sweetie, so I may make an exception," Alex retorted.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Garm said, grinning as his bones mended.

"Good. I'll see you in hell one day, then. Keep me a space, would you?" Alex joked.

With a roar, the krogan ran at her once more. This time, Alex didn't move until the last second. Sidestepping, she swung her fist at his head, causing him to flip head-over-heels before sliding into the wall on his back.

Getting back up, he marched up to her and swung a fist at her head. Catching his fist, she twisted his arm, using his own momentum to do so. There were a series of loud cracks as his shoulder dislocated, his elbow twisted apart, his wrist splintered and his hand was crushed, causing him to roar out in pain. Alex then planted a kick square in his chest, sending him staggering back.

With a roar, Garm charged at her in a bloodrage, uncaring of his arm swinging uselessly at his side. As he charged at her, Alex grabbed a nearby chair and threw it at his ankles with sufficient force to cause him to trip. Dashing forward, she kicked the dazed krogan in the face, sending him sprawling back in amongst the beds.

Walking round the bed, she grabbed him by the armour on his hump and threw him against a wall with sufficient force to slightly dent the wall. Realizing that he still wasn't dead, she grabbed a nearby spare sniper.

"Sorry about this, Vakarian," she shouted over her shoulder.

"Huh? What do you mean?" came the startled response from the vigilante.

Alex marched over to the krogan, just as Shepard's team ran in to help. Grabbing the plate on top of the krogan's head, she yanked it off accompanied by a scream from Garm. With a grunt, she slammed the sniper rifle down into his head. With a squelch, the barrel of the sniper passed through the krogan's brain before exiting through his chin.

"Keep fighting now, you son of a bitch," Alex gloated, stepping back.

Looking around, she found everyone else in the room giving her a combination of shocked, horrified and awed looks.

"What?" she asked.

"Whilst that has got to be the most brutal fight and kill I've ever seen, it got the job done. And we managed to take out the rest of his Blood Pack whilst Alex took care of Garm. This day just gets better and better. Garm was one tough son of a bitch," Garrus commented.

"You've fought with him before?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah, we tangoed once. Caught him alone. None of his gang to help him. I still couldn't take him out. I've never seen a krogan regen that fast. He's a freak of nature. He just kept at it until his vorcha showed up. It was close but I had to let him go. Not this time," Garrus remarked, obviously delighted at the krogan's demise.

"I'm impressed. He was even something of a challenge to me, Vakarian," Alex said, causing a few raised eyebrows.

"Only the Blue Suns are left. I say we take our chances and fight our way out," Shepard suggested, changing the subject.

"I think you're right. Tarak's got the toughest group, but nothing we haven't faced before. Besides, he won't be expecting us to meet him head-on -" Garrus said, only to be interrupted as the gunship smashed an intact window away from the bridge.

Everyone dived for cover as a couple of rounds flew into the room, before the gunship moved off.

"They're offloading troops! Watch your back, Shepard!" Garrus advised.

The gunship moved off, leaving the group to deal with some mercs that had been dropped off. After disposing of them, Garrus noticed more troops.

"They're rappelling down the side wall. Ground floor!" Garrus yelled.

With a cry, Shepard leapt over the railing. Initiating a charge in mid-air, she slammed into one of the mercs before unleashing a shockwave, launching a number of them back. Whilst the rest of the team took the stairs, Alex followed the Commander's example leaping from the upper floor. However, unlike the Commander, Alex created multiple cracks in the floor upon landing. Garrus stayed on the upper level, providing covering fire with his sniper rifle.

Upon clearing up the last of the mercs, the group started to head upstairs. Before they could get there, however, the gunship returned.

"Archangel!" Tarak shouted, before opening fire.

Numerous rounds hit Garrus, most being absorbed by his shields before he got to cover.

"You think you can screw with the Blue Suns!" Tarak shouted, continuing to cover the room with rounds.

The gunship then floated down, giving its rocket pods space to fire into the room.

"This ends now!" Tarak shouted, firing rockets.

Garrus dived to get out of the way, but wasn't quite fast enough. One of the rockets caught him, sending him flying.

He didn't get back up.


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Note: Once again, hello. Still on holiday, still got lots of time, still writing. I wondered if I might have made the fight between Alex and Garm to graphic but people seemed to like it so I'll try to make any similar fights similarly brutal. Although there is very little action here, this should conclude Dossier: Archangel and move us on to Dossier: The Professor…**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own copies of these great games so what do you think are the chances that I own the Mass Effect and Halo franchises?**

**Onboard Omega Station**

Shepard rushed in diving behind a sofa next to the turian.

"Garrus!" Shepard yelled, trying to get a response.

There was no response from the armoured turian. Glaring round her cover at Tarak's gunship, Shepard brought her grenade launcher to bear.

"Time to teach him a lesson, baby," Shepard muttered as she aimed.

The rest of the team had joined her in the room, ducking behind various pieces of cover and taking pot shots at the gunship. Shepard pulled the trigger, sending a grenade flying into the gunship. Tarak turned the guns to focus on Shepard, giving the rest of the team time to move. As everyone else moved to other bits of cover, Alex ran forward and leapt out of the window. Landing on the gunship, she grabbed on as Tarak tried to shake her off.

Shepard took the opportunity to fire another grenade at the gunship, damaging one of the engines. With a cry, Alex punched on hand into the hull of the gunship. Removing her fist, she pulled a grenade that she threw inside the hole she'd created. Jumping back toward the building, she managed to grab the window frame.

"Fire in the hole," she said over the coms.

As the grenade exploded, Alex pulled herself back inside. As the now badly damaged gunship was sent veering off from the explosion, Shepard lined up her grenade launcher again.

"See you in hell, you son of a bitch," Shepard shouted, pulling the trigger.

The grenade hit the fuel tank that had been revealed by the explosion of Alex's grenade, igniting the gunship's fuel lines. The gunship exploded, launching burning pieces of wreckage in all directions.

As the group walked over to the lifeless and bleeding form of Garrus Vakarian, the turian let out a gasp.

"Garrus! We're getting you out of here, Garrus. Just hold on. Radio Joker. Make sure they're ready for us," Shepard ordered.

"We better hurry. He looks bad," Jacob commented.

**Onboard the _Normandy SR2_**

Alex was walking back to her room with some food when Archangel left the lift.

"Glad to see you're up and about, Vakarian," Alex told him.

"Thanks, SPARTAN. But please, call me Garrus," the turian told her.

"OK then, Garrus. But in that case, call me Alex. If you need me, I'll be in that room over there," she said, pointing out her room.

"Understood. I might come and speak to you if I don't want to speak to anyone from Cerberus and Shepard isn't around. I'll see you later, Alex," Garrus said as he turned toward the forward battery.

"See you 'round. And try not to eat any more rockets, you're ugly enough already," she remarked, grinning.

"Screw you. I'm not the one who's so ugly, she has to wear a helmet so she doesn't just scare her enemies to death," Garrus retorted, laughing.

"See you later, turian," Alex called out, laughing.

As she walked in to her room, she put her food on her bed before starting to take off her armour. After removing the final piece, she grabbed her tank top and shorts and threw them on just as Shepard came in.

"Is now a bad time? I can come back later," Shepard said.

"It's fine, Commander. How can I help you?" Alex asked.

"Tell me about what sort of things the SPARTANs do," Shepard said.

"OK, I'll tell you a story from a couple of years back, before I was assigned to Lazarus. A couple of the Confederacy's ODST's and SpecOps guys and me were assigned to bring down a pirate base. So we get to the planet, we drop in from orbit, we hit the ground and we go to work. Everything goes fine for an hour, we meet very little resistance. Then we reach the hangar and shit hits the fan. The fucking idiots have left the hangar doors open, letting in the local wildlife. That includes this real tough species called Sar'vaak worms. The things are usually at least fifty metres long and three meters thick, with teeth the size of a Volus and sharper than an energy sword with a venom that'll paralyze you in seconds and keep you there for hours. Their hides are also virtually impervious to any weapon we know of short of a nuke or an MAC round. Thing is, there's half a dozen of the fuckers in this hangar. That's not even the worst bit. The biggest one must have been the mother of all Sar'vaak worms. It was almost eighty metres long and twelve thick, with teeth to match. The thing could have eaten a tank. The pirates, uneducated idiots, are shooting at the things which just pisses them off further," Alex explains.

"They sound tough. How'd you get out?" Shepard asked.

"We killed the mother fuckers. Out of the dozen ODSTs and half a dozen SpecOps that went down with me, five ODSTs and two SpecOps left the planet alive. All of us were injured, from me having a gash on my arm and another on my leg right up to one of the ODSTs who didn't have any legs anymore. And of course, by the time we reached the frigate we came on, we were all frozen. They had to use a crane to move me. I was the first one to recover from the paralysis and even I took almost thirteen hours. The Sangheili took another hour or so after that, whilst the others took another three on top of that. It was one of the most disastrous missions the CUFS has run in the last three decades. The only good thing was that the pirates were dealt with," Alex added.

"OK then. Remind me never to go there," Shepard remarked.

"Don't worry, I doubt you will," Alex told her.

"Why do you say that?" Shepard asked.

"Sorry, that's classified. Anything else I can help you with?"

"Not at the moment. Garrus, Zaeed, Jacob and I are going to go pick up the Professor. Once we get back, we're leaving so make sure you're done on Omega," Shepard told the SPARTAN.

"Yes, ma'am. I'll see you later," Alex said with a salute.

As Shepard left, Alex sat down to eat her meal and then get some sleep before she was need again.


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Note: Hello, everybody. I'm back, at last. Life, mainly school, got in the way. So here we have another update and I will try to update at least once a month, hopefully more. Now then, because I am lazy and can't be bothered, I'm going to skip both Jack and Grunt's recruitment. They're pretty basic anyway. I would also like to apologise for any OOCness, I'm trying to keep them in-character. So, we come to the Collector attack on the human colony of New Dawn (or Horizon in the games)…**

**Disclaimer: You know what, screw it. If you haven't realised it, I don't own them and until I let you know otherwise, just assume that is still the case because I can't be bothered with a disclaimer anymore.**

**Onboard the Normandy**

"Ground team! Report to the hangar immediately! Repeat: the ground team is to report to the hangar immediately!" EDI ordered over the intercom.

Alex leapt up from where she had been push-ups and ran over to her armour. Ten minutes later, she reached the hangar.

"What the fuck took you so long?" Jack shouted.

"This armour ain't exactly fast to put on, dimwit. Give me the basics on the way down, ma'am," Alex added when Shepard made to repeat her briefing.

"Right. Everyone in the shuttle," Shepard ordered.

It was quite challenging to get them all in. After all, six humans, a turian, a salarian, a krogan and a SPARTAN take up quite a bit of space. However, they all managed to get in, at which point Shepard gave Alex the basics.

"The Collectors have attacked the human colony of New Dawn, which we are currently orbiting. We are going in to try and stop them. We'll be split into two teams. Team One will be lead by me and include Mordin, Miranda, Kasumi and Jacob. Team Two will be lead by Garrus and include everyone else. Team One will be the main operations team; we'll be the ones searching for survivors and intel. Team Two will be creating a diversion, making as much noise as possible to draw the Collectors out of our path. Hence the inclusion of most of the more dangerous and violence-oriented people," Shepard explained.

"Okay. Make lots of noise and kill lots of things. I can do that," Alex remarked.

"Good. Now then, let's go," Shepard ordered as the hatch opened.

**Colony World of New Dawn**

Once they exited the shuttle, one of the first things visible was the massive Collector ship in the distance.

"That is one ugly son of a bitch," Alex muttered.

"We're groundside. Mordin, you sure those armour upgrades will protect us from the seeker swarms?" asked the Commander after radioing the Normandy.

"Certainty impossible. But in limited numbers, should confuse detection, make us invisible to swarms. In theory," the Professor responded.

"In theory?" Grunt asked.

"Experimental technology. Only test is contact with seeker swarms. Look forward to seeing if we survive," Mordin commented.

"That just fills me with confidence," Alex commented.

"Enough chatter. Team Two, head southwest and wreak as much havoc as you can, draw them out of our path. Team One, form up on me," Shepard ordered.

"Understood, Shepard. You heard her, this way," Garrus ordered, stepping over the small wall into a small field.

The rest of Team Two followed, soon forming a line as they moved across the field. Reaching the other side, Jack and Grunt moved into the street, followed by Alex and Zaeed with Garrus bringing up the rear. After a while, they reached a courtyard that contained a number of Collectors.

"If we can force them out, we can temporarily dig in here and draw them here. If necessary, we can then move on again," Garrus said before Grunt and Jack could charge in.

Everyone nodded in agreement, even Jack and Grunt acknowledging that Garrus was in charge. With that, Jack and Grunt charged into the courtyard, shotguns blazing. Alex and Zaeed followed them, firing short, accurate bursts from their assault rifles to suppress the Collectors. Garrus stayed back, firing his sniper with great accuracy at the Collectors.

The suddenness of the team's assault threw the Collectors into disarray. Half of them fell before they were anywhere near capable of retaliating. The other half fell quickly to close range shotgun blasts, biotics, a bullet between the eyes or a burst of assault rifle fire. As the last Collector fell, Garrus came to join the others.

"Right, good work everyone. We'll hold here, but whilst we wait for them to come to us, let's make it more defensible. Zaeed; search the Collectors for anything useful. Grunt, Alex, Jack; set up some barricades. I'll keep an eye out for them" the turian ordered.

The group separated, with Zaeed going to search the corpses of the Collectors, Jack using her biotics to move planters into one of the alleys to block it off, Garrus climbing a nearby building to keep watch and Grunt and Alex working together to push an abandoned car into the entrance of another alley.

For almost ten minutes, they waited. Zaeed had joined in erecting barricades, as had Garrus after he realised there was nothing happening. By the time the Collectors came, all the alleys and streets had been effectively blocked off using benches, cars, planters, the dead bodies of the other Collectors and tables. Alex and Grunt had even dumped a forklift truck from a nearby warehouse into one of the alleys, whilst some crates from that same warehouse acted as cover for the group at the end of the one street they didn't block. When the first Collector turned the corner to attack, Garrus noticed it and put a round through its head.

"We have contacts! Defensive positions!" Garrus ordered.

Everyone moved for cover behind the crates, firing at the oncoming Collectors and husks as they went. Due to the range, Grunt had swapped his shotgun for his assault rifle and Jack was using her pistol. The combined fire of all five of them kept the Collectors at bay.

"Comman…-tting all kinds…-ference. We can't maintai…" Joker's voice said through the static covering the radio channel.

"Excellent. The Normandy is out of contact," sighed Alex, gunning down a Collector.

"I'll try to check on Shepard. Cover me," Garrus told them.

"Right. See if there's actually any point t'us doin' this," Zaeed remarked.

"Shepard, this is Garrus, do you copy? Shepard, do you read me? This is Team Two, what's your status?" the turian shouted down his comm. before cursing.

"The Collectors must be blocking us," Jack shouted over the sound of gunfire, throwing a warp at a Collector.

"So we're on our own and running with no hope for back-up or intel. Not what I like to hear in the mornings," Alex responded.

"Less talking, more killing. The Collectors aren't gonna kill themselves," Grunt roared.

As if on cue, some kind of uber-husks approached. As they advanced, they fired their shoulder-mounted cannon at the team forcing them into cover. This gave the rest of the forces an opportunity to advance. Recognizing this, Grunt and Jack switched back to their shotguns and Garrus replaced his sniper with his assault rifle.

The group jumped up simultaneously, with Grunt and Jack focusing on the scions and Alex, Zaeed and Garrus firing on the husks and Collectors. Suddenly, one of the husks near the back of the formation started to float and glow.

"Assuming direct control!" said a deep voice that was heard across the battlefield, even with all the gunfire.

The glowing Collector then moved forward and soon stood at the front of the formation. Garrus fired a burst at it that would have taken out any other Collector, but its barrier just shrugged it off. Garrus continued to pour fire into it, soon joined by Zaeed, and eventually it fell. The remaining forces were either killed or retreated soon after.

"Cowards! They run with their tails between their legs! Ha!" Grunt roared, climbing onto the barricade in celebration.

Alex walked over, reached up and pulled him down.

"I doubt they ran, young one. They'll either be back with more forces or they've gone after Shepard. If they come back, we deal with them. If they've gone after Shepard, we need to go cause more havoc or follow them. Either way, we ain't done yet," Alex told the krogan.

"Alex is right. For now though, we have breathing space, as the humans would say. Any thoughts?" Garrus asked.

"Those fused ones were fucking tough. We need to watch out for them; if there's to many of the fuckers, they could overwhelm us," Jack pointed out.

"I'm more concerned with the glowing one. It took me and the turian almost three clips a piece of concentrated fire to bring 'im down," Zaeed said.

"Agreed. The glowing Collector is a serious issue. If we see one, we concentrate on that," Garrus ordered.

"Right, shoot the lightbulb. Reminds me of Line Installation 019. Similar orders," Alex remarked, to confused glances from everyone else.

"What the hell is that?" Grunt interrupted the conversation, pointing down the street.

Moving toward them, flanked by about two-dozen Collectors, was a four-legged thing that seemed to have husks in its mouth. Two blue spots of light appeared on its shoulders.

"Get down!" shouted Alex, as beams shot from the Praetorian's shoulders.

The team dove out of the way, each of them ducking behind a separate piece of cover as the beams impacted the ground where they had stood moments before. As dirt and shrapnel flew everywhere, the squad drew their weapons.

"Alex, you and me will deal with the Collectors. Grunt, Jack, Zaeed; deal with that… thing," Garrus ordered.

Alex stood up firing on the nearest Collector, soon taking him down, as Garrus did the same on the other side of the street. Meanwhile, Zaeed and Grunt poured assault rifle fire into the thing while Jack's pistol placed relatively accurate shots into the husks inside the thing's mouth. After dealing with the Collectors, Garrus and Alex focused their fire on the Praetorian as well. Under combined fire from all five of them, the thing soon fell.

As the team was just about to step back and take a breath, there was a series of explosions in the distance. Looking toward the source of the noise, the team lowered their weapons when they saw the Collector ship taking off under fire from the colony's defence grid.

"Looks like Shepard did it, she managed to kick them out," Garrus remarked with a grin.

"Good thing too. I'm almost out of ammo," Alex responded, eliciting laughs from the others.

"Shepard to Team Two. What's you're status?" Shepard asked over the comm.

"We're done here. Where's our rendezvous?" Garrus responded.

"Activate a beacon. We'll come and pick you up."

A minute or so later, the shuttle landed in the courtyard. The door opened, allowing Team One to get out. Upon seeing the state of the courtyard, the street and the alleys, the group was shocked.

"Whoa! You guys did a lot of damage," Kasumi said.

"Most impressive. Must be at least two hundred Collectors, husks and other enemies. For five people to do so much damage, most would say impossible, you would prove them wrong," Mordin remarked.

"Indeed. Whilst I was aware that you had to be good to be suggested for this mission, I didn't think you would be able to face such overwhelming odds. I'm impressed," Miranda conceded, causing a smirk to appear on Jack's face.

"Let's get going. Whilst it is impressive, we still have to save the galaxy from the rest of the Collectors," Shepard said.

As the ground team climbed into the shuttle, Garrus grabbed some of the Collectors' weapons "for research".

"That was fun," Alex, Jack and Grunt said together, as the shuttle cleared the atmosphere.


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note: Hello everybody. Sorry for the wait, life just got a bit full. However, I'm back now with another chapter. Sorry again for any OOCness. Now, we will start Alex's loyalty mission. Hopefully people will enjoy it…**

**Onboard the _Normandy SR2_**

"Commander," Alex said, not looking up from her datapad as Shepard walked in.

"Alex, something on your mind?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah. About 60 years ago, a ship called the _UNSC Spirit of Fire_ vanished with all hands. She disappeared, apparently forever. Not even the most advanced AIs could think of ways to find her and all the search-and-rescue teams returned empty handed," Alex told the Commander.

"I'm sorry about that, but why is it important?" Shepard asked.

"Because the _Spirit of Fire_ has just drifted into the Omega Nebula, literally about five minutes ago. We're closest by so I was about to come and ask if we could check it out. If you do that for us, the Admiral will consider it quits," Alex explained.

"Okay then. Get ready, we'll head there right away," Shepard said.

"Ma'am," Alex responded with a salute.

As the _Normandy_ arrived in the Omega Nebula, they noticed a frigate moving up next to the _Spirit of Fire_. The frigate was flying Eclipse colours, immediately worrying Alex.

"Moreau, get me a line to that frigate!"

"On it, Alex. There you go, line's all yours," Joker said.

"Unidentified frigate, this is SPARTAN 0704D of the Confederacy of Unified Free Species. That vessel is property of the CUFS. According to Article 5 of the CUFSAF Directives, any action taken against this vessel, including boarding, gives me the authority to engage and execute any hostile personnel. Turn around and leave. Failure to comply will result in your death," Alex ordered.

The frigate seemed to hasten at that, launching dropships toward the hangars.

"Dammit, they're not listening. Moreau, get me a line to the _Spirit of Fire_."

"But what's the point? After all this time, wouldn't the crew be dead?" Joker asked.

"Probably not. However, they are likely unavailable. The AI on the other hand, will hopefully be available," Alex said.

"Unknown vessel, this is the _Spirit of Fire_. What is it?"

"_Spirit of Fire_, this is SPARTAN Alex-0704D. What's your status?" Alex responded to the voice.

"Prove it," retorted the female voice.

"Service number 11475-94630-AC," Alex said.

"Has the correct format. You have authorisation. Significant hull damage; crew in cryo bays; slipspace drive removed and reactors operating at minimum. I am detecting lifeforms onboard, SPARTAN. Requesting information," the voice stated.

"Lifeforms onboard are NOT friendly. I repeat, NOT friendly. Do what you can to stop them. Don't let them acquire any data. Withhold all information from anyone unless directed otherwise by myself. Lock down all hatches and vent the hangar. Block all terminals except those on the bridge or any I attempt to use. I am preparing to board and will have non-human friendlies, repeat, non-human friendlies. Understood?" Alex asked.

"Message received and understood. Sealing all doors, bulkheads and hatches. Venting hangar. Preparing weapons. See you shortly. _Spirit of Fire,_ out."

"Let's go," Shepard ordered.

**Onboard the _UNSC Spirit of Fire_**

As the shuttle touched down in the hangar, Alex jumped out. Shepard and Garrus followed stepping out into the large hangar. Looking around the hangar, Alex noticed quite how old it was.

"Wow, Longsword fighters. We haven't used them since 2564. The same applies to half these vehicles actually. They're so out of date," Alex remarked.

"Welcome aboard, SPARTAN. I am Serina, the _Spirit of Fire_'s Smart AI. I have done as ordered. All the intruders have been sealed within certain areas, mostly the hallways. However, some managed to reach rooms before I sealed the ship. They have made into unimportant rooms such as the mess hall, the rec-room and one of the observation decks. The rest were removed from the vessel when this hangar was vented," the recently appeared Serina told them.

"What happened to this ship?" Shepard asked.

The AI paused.

"Weencountered unforeseen problems on our travels. During our attempts to resolve the issue, we lost the side of the ship in a collision; our slipspace drive had to be removed and numerous good men were killed. We have been drifting since," Serina told her.

"Where's the crew?" Shepard continued, suspicious.

"The crew is in the cryo bays. I am reluctant to awaken them, as I have no idea what may happen after over sixty years in cryo. It would be pointless to awaken them anyway, because there would be nothing for them to do and they wouldn't be ready for combat anyway," Serina explained.

"Who is the captain of the ship?" Shepard asked.

"Captain Cutter. Currently in cryo and so unavailable," Serina told them.

"But alive and well?" Alex asked.

"Captain Cutter is perfectly fine. However, it is impossible to tell how the time in cryo will have affected him. He may not survive defrosting in perfect health, if at all," Serina warned.

"We should go," Shepard said.

"Understood. I will open doors as and when you need them opened. Have fun killing things," Serina remarked before vanishing.

The squad moved forward, crossing the hangar towards the nearest door. As they approached, the door opened to reveal a trio of Eclipse mercs facing the door at the other end of the small hallway. Before they could even turn around, the team shot them down. As before, the door opened as they approached. This time, however, there were not only more mercs but there was also an engineer who was attempting to get through a door marked "Cryo Bay A". Knowing that that would be the location of Captain Cutter, Alex got angry.

"Right! Now they've done it," Alex seethed.

Hearing her, every merc in the twenty metre long hall turned to look at them.

"Oh Spirits. How are we getting out of this one?" Garrus asked.

Before anyone could respond, Alex had moved. With speed impossible for almost any species to reach naturally, Alex sprinted down the corridor. As the mercs opened fire, she used her magnetic boots to run up and along the wall without slowing down. As the mercs attempted to readjust their aim, Alex closed the last few meters to the first mercenary. With a loud smash, Alex's armoured foot impacted on the merc's head with sufficient force to dent a tank. Ducking under the next volley, she snapped out her fist.

The asari she hit wasn't just winded when the fist struck her chest, she was sent flying down the hallway with half her ribs shattered before she hit the wall. Alex then pulled another nearby human in front of her, causing him to be shot by his fellows. Drawing her combat knife, Alex charged the remaining three Eclipse members once more.

The remaining asari threw a warp at her, which Alex dodged, causing it to hit the wall. Alex promptly stabbed the salarian in the chest before following it up with a stab to the forehead. Alex then flicked her wrist, sending the knife spinning into the human engineer's spine. She then advanced on the asari.

The asari used a biotic lift, causing the SPARTAN to float. The asari smirked, thinking she had the upper hand. Or she did, until Alex magnetised her feet once more, sticking herself to the ceiling. She then moved toward the shocked asari before lifting her up by her throat.

"I warned you not to set foot on this ship," Alex said.

There was a distinct snap as the SPARTAN snapped the asari's neck. She walked across the ceiling and then down the wall before stepping back onto the floor.

"Okay, that was impressive," commented a shocked Garrus from where he and Shepard were standing in the door.


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's Note: Merry Christmas! If you don't celebrate Christmas, then take advantage of the holiday anyway and enjoy yourselves. I may not update for the rest of the month but I'll sure the hell try. If anything here confuses you, look it up on the Halo wiki. This chapter highlights two things: one, that Alex is not always nice; and two, that the Mass Effect races **_**seriously**_** underestimate SPARTANs. Now then, the **_**Spirit of Fire**_** awaits…**

**Onboard the **_**UNSC Spirit of Fire**_

There was a loud "crunch!" as Alex slammed a salarian's head against a nearby wall. Another mercenary dropped on the other side of the mess hall followed by another being launched across the room with biotics. Alex drew her pistol and put a round through the last asari's head.

"Done. Observation deck's this way," Alex said.

The other two followed her as the SPARTAN led the way toward the observation deck.

"Be advised, SPARTAN. The group's apparent leader is currently on the observation deck. She appears to be in a bad mood and have a lot of friends," Serina told them.

"She's in a bad mood? You do realize that Alex looks like she might tear them apart with her bare hands and has done so?" Garrus asks.

"Bad mood? Oh, I'm not in a bad mood. I am so fucking pissed off the Reapers themselves would be shitting themselves, then trying to run before committing suicide when they realised I would follow them. Every single one of them is gonna die and if I can, I'll ensure it's _real_ painful and _real_ slow," Alex growled.

"I think I will be going that way. To, errr… make sure there are no mercenaries in that direction," Garrus said, pointing away from the observation deck.

"Oh no you don't, split-cheeks. We're going to take these motherfuckers down and then I'm going to show them a level of pain so high, they'll be begging me to kill them. Who knows, I may even do so, depends on what mood I'm in," Alex snarled, the manic glint in her eyes going unnoticed due to her helmet.

"Alright, calm down Alex," Shepard ordered.

"Calm down? You want me to calm down? These fucking assholes not only have the false belief that they own this ship, they have the fucking gall to try threatening me. Not only that, they want to murder the crew while they're all in cryo sleep. Including three SPARTAN-IIs, over 2,000 crewmen, a few thousand soldiers and my uncle! Well I got news for them: not happening while I'm breathing and that, Commander, is final!" Alex shouted.

"SPARTAN-0704D! Stand down!" Shepard ordered, to no avail.

The door to the observation deck opened as Alex approached. Everyone in the room turned to face the sound. The twenty or so mercenaries drew their weapons whilst the leader of the group stepped forward, a cocky smirk on her face.

"Surrender, a live SPARTAN is worth more to me than a dead one. Although you'll still fetch me a lot of cash dead," the asari captain said.

"Better idea. I'm in a generous mood so I'll give you one chance to run. Don't waste it," Alex warned, with an air of forced calm.

"Kill her, but try and leave her body intact. If you can't, never mind," the captain said.

With the order out, the mercs opened fire. Rockets, bullets and biotics converged on the SPARTAN's location. There was a series of large explosions, large enough to ensure that no personal shields or armour would have protected the target.

"Well, that was easy," one of the salarians remarked.

"Agreed. We're done here," the Captain stated.

Then the smoke cleared revealing the SPARTAN crouched inside a golden dome, apparently unscathed. Alex looked up, the cold golden visor staring at the Eclipse mercenaries.

"My turn," Alex muttered, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Scooping up the generator and deactivating it, the SPARTAN sprinted forward. A human engineer made the mistake of not moving out of the way fast enough, promptly being crushed between a wall and half a ton of metal, muscle and bone. Alex turned, light machine gun raised in her left hand and her pistol in her right. Grinning madly under her helmet, Alex opened fire, allowing her M739 to cover the room with bullets whilst firing precise shots with her pistol.

Only a dozen mercenaries were left by the time the SPARTAN paused to reload. Returning her pistol to her thigh, Alex slammed a new drum into the SAW, ignoring her flaring shields. This time, Alex began unleashing short, accurate bursts from her LMG. Those that didn't die from her shots were forced to duck down behind cover.

In the space of two minutes, Alex had taken the team of twenty-odd confident mercenaries and turned them into half-a-dozen terrified mercenaries. With the remainder too scared to move, Alex was now systematically going around the room and killing them with a single pistol round through the head. When she reached the hiding place of the leader, however, she lifted the asari up by her scalp crest.

"PLEASE! LET ME GO! I'LL NEVER COME NEAR YOU AGAIN, I SWEAR! I'LL NEVER GO NEAR ANYTHING OF THE CONFEDERACY'S AGAIN!" the asari cried between screams.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it. However, seeing as we're here, how about you answer some questions?" Alex said, dropping her.

"Okay okay, what do you want to know?" the asari whimpered, massaging her crest in pain.

"Eclipse bases, where are they?" Alex asked.

"I don't know where all of them are, but there's one on Omega and on Illium and Lorek. That's all I know of, I swear," the asari pleaded.

"Were you hired to come here and if so, by who?"

"We weren't hired. We noticed the ship, as did half of Omega. We were just the first ones to get here."

"Thank you. You have been most helpful. The Confederacy can make use of this," Alex said, standing up.

Alex walked off toward Shepard and Garrus who were standing in the door, still trying to process what they had just seen. As the door closed behind the SPARTAN, she turned to look through the window at the asari still lying on the floor.

"Serina? Decompress the observation deck," Alex ordered, before turning to walk down the hall.

"Aye, SPARTAN. Decompressing observation deck," Serina responded.

"WHAT? But that asari did exactly as you told her," Shepard shouted.

"That asari is also the enemy, a smuggler, a murderer and willing to help anyone with deep enough pockets, Shepard. As a SPARTAN and an officer of the CUFSAF, any hostiles are to be terminated unless the mission parameters state otherwise. Standard protocol. And to be honest, I'm not looking for your approval. I'm just doing my job by accompanying you. If an order from you goes against orders from a CUFS officer or CUFS protocol, then I am not doing what you say, Shepard," Alex stated coldly.

With that, Alex turned and walked away from a stunned human and an equally stunned turian. With one last glance at the now-blue spattered window, Shepard and Garrus followed her.


	26. Chapter 26

**Author's Note: Welcome to 2013, everyone! Hope you have a good year. Now, on to business. This long chapter will finish Mass Effect 2. I know I haven't done much (barely any to be fair) of Mass Effect 2 but that's because it is the exact same but with the addition of Alex-0704D. Mass Effect 3 is where things start branching off to a far greater degree. Also, for the most part, any science terms or weird gadgets are the result of me throwing some sciencey words together at random. So, to the Collector Base…**

**Onboard the **_**Normandy SR2**_

"Approaching Omega 4 relay. Everyone stand by," Joker ordered over the intercom.

"Reaper IFF activated. Signal acknowledged. Drive core electrical charge at critical levels," EDI reported.

Alex glanced over to Brighter Than Light and Tali as they worked to ensure the ship didn't spontaneously combust. The Huragok clicked and whistled at Alex, which her armour translated for her.

"Right. This piece?" Alex asked, holding up a large grey box.

The Huragok whistled, managing to sound patronizing even as it whistled.

"Hey, I ain't an engineer. I don't know what a quantum charge matrix is. Or what it looks like," she responded, taking a slightly larger black box over to the engineer.

The engineer clicked a couple of times as it connected the quantum charge matrix to a power line, siphoning off some of the excess charge on the core.

"Brace for deceleration."

The ship jerked slightly as it exited the Relay before tilting into an almost vertical position. Brighter Than Light remained unaffected whilst Alex activated her magnetic boots. Tali, however, almost flew into the engine room before Alex managed to catch her. After a minute, the _Normandy_ levelled out again.

Brighter Than Light floated over to the quantum charge matrix, which had been flung across the room by the ship's manoeuvre. It whistled once in satisfaction before floating off to attend to other matters.

"Thanks, Alex," Tali said.

"No problem. Just don't make a habit of it," Alex chuckled before going to attend to other matters.

After the plasma turrets solved a skirmish with a couple of Occuli, the Collector cruiser engaged the _Normandy_. A combination of the plasma torpedoes and the Thanix Cannon brought the Collector cruiser down but the resulting shockwave caused the _Normandy_'s mass effect fields to shut off.

"Generators unresponsive. All hands brace for impact," EDI reported over the intercom.

Brighter Than Light clicked and whistled a couple of times as it worked at a terminal.

"Power being rerouted from emergency reactor. Engines back online. Landing gear online," EDI reported.

"What the heck? Where did that come from?" Joker asked as he swung the _Normandy_ around a pillar before landing by a door.

"I believe Brighter Than Light rerouted the power into the necessary systems, Jeff. I did not expect the reactor to be able to cope with the power needed to power the engines. The ship should be safe for now, but in an emergency we should be able to move it," EDI told them.

After a planning session, the team split up. Whilst Tali climbed through the ventilation, Shepard, Garrus and Legion took the path right next to the vent and Miranda led the rest of the team along another path. After a moment Shepard contacted them.

"Second team - are you in position?" Shepard asked.

"In position. Meet you on the other side of those doors," Miranda answered.

Second team moved into the corridor, with Alex, Grunt and Jack on point. Sweeping her assault rifle from side to side. Alex signalled the all clear. Grunt and Jack moved past her while Samara came and crouched next to her. The two stayed where they were as the rest of the team moved past them. Once Thane had past them, the pair moved up. Upon hearing a new sound, the two turned.

"Collectors at our rear!" Alex shouted, firing.

Samara threw a warp at a Collector's head, killing it instantly. Thane, Zaeed and Kasumi added their fire to the pair's, keeping the Collectors back.

"More from the front!" Jack reported.

The rest of the team opened fire on the Collectors approaching from in front. The group slowly continued, fending off attacks from each side.

"Miranda here. We're taking heavy fire, but we're moving forward," Miranda told Shepard.

The team proceeded like that for a while until they reached a set of doors.

"We're in position. Just waiting for the doors to open," Miranda informed the Commander whilst the team arrayed themselves around the door.

Alex fired on a Collector that was trying to sneak up on Samara, who returned the favour by throwing another off the platform. The two continued to work in tandem, efficiently working together. When the door opened, Alex and Samara were the last ones through before Mordin shut the door.

With the team back together, Alex and Samara took a moment to catch their breath.

"Shepard! You need to see this!" Miranda said.

Looking around, the team found themselves in a huge chamber filled with pipes and tubes. The walls were covered in pods. Shepard moved over to look at a nearby pod, which had a young woman in it.

"Looks like one of the missing colonists," Miranda stated.

As Shepard approached the pod in question, Legion called to her from nearby.

"Shepard-Commander. Additional Humans," Legion stated, indicating the _Normandy_'s crew in other pods.

Just then, the colonist started to move.

"My god! She's still alive!" Shepard realized.

The colonist started screaming as she seemed to dissolve. Despite her best efforts, Shepard couldn't get the pod open in time.

"Get them out of there! Hurry!" Shepard ordered.

The team sprang into action, working to get the crew out of the pods. Alex ran over to one and, after a moment's struggle, tore the lid off. Once the pods had all been opened, the team gathered round.

"Shepard? You… you came for us," Chakwas said.

"No one gets left behind," Shepard responded.

"Thank god you got here in time. A few more seconds and… I don't even want to think about it," Kelly said, shivering slightly in horror.

"The colonists were… processed. Those swarms of little robots, they - melted their bodies into grey liquid and pumped it through these tubes," Chakwas told them.

"Why are they doing this? What are they doing with our genetic material?" Shepard asked.

"I don't know. I'm just glad you got here before it happened to us," the doctor remarked.

"So are we. But we still have a job to do. We've done well so far. Let's hope we can finish the job," Miranda commented.

"Joker? Can you get a fix on our position?" Shepard asked.

"Roger that, Commander. All those tubes lead into the main control room right above you. The route is blocked by a security door, but there's another chamber that runs parallel to the one you're in," Joker informed them.

"I cannot recommend that. Thermal emissions suggest the chamber is overrun with seeker swarms. Mordin's countermeasure cannot protect you against so many at once," EDI warned.

"What about biotics? Could we create a biotic field to keep them from getting near us?" Shepard asked.

"Yes… I think it may be possible. I wouldn't be able to protect everyone, but we might be able to get a small team through if they stayed close," Samara agreed.

"I could do it, too. In theory, any biotic could handle it. Shepard, who do you want to maintain the field?" Miranda asked.

Shepard paused, thinking about it for a moment.

"Samara and I will take a small team through the seeker swarms. The rest of you provide a diversion by going through the main passage. We'll open the security doors from the other side and meet you there," Shepard ordered.

"Who should lead the diversion team?" Miranda asked.

"Miranda, you're leading the diversion team," Shepard decided.

"I'll keep the defenders busy while you slip in the back," Miranda said.

"What about me and the rest of the crew, Shepard? We're in no shape to fight," Chakwas pointed out.

"Commander? We have enough systems back online to do a pickup, but we'd need to land back from your position," Joker told them.

"We can't afford to go back, Shepard. Not now," Miranda argued.

"You'll never make it without help. I'll send someone with you. Mordin, get them back to the _Normandy_," Shepard ordered.

"Understood. Joker, transmit the location of the landing zone. Will meet you there," Mordin said.

"We've all got our assignments. Let's move out!" Shepard ordered.

Alex moved right behind Grunt and Jack as they moved into the hallway.

"Miranda here. Team is in position and waiting for your orders, Shepard," Miranda said from the middle of the group.

"The swarms must be interfering with the signal. We noticed that to a lesser extent when we were on Horizon, remember?" Alex remarked.

The team reached the door, turning to open fire on the arriving Collectors. They held their position for a couple of minutes, gunning down countless Collectors. Miranda continued to try to reach Shepard to no avail.

"I copy. What's your position?" Shepard finally responded.

"We're at the door. They've got us pinned down!" Miranda answered.

"We're coming; just hold on! Get this door open!" Shepard ordered someone at her end.

As the door started to open, the diversionary team started retreating back in whilst Shepard's team provided covering fire.

"Come on!" Shepard ordered.

As she backed into the room, Alex threw a grenade back into the hallway.

"Seal the door!" Shepard shouted to Samara.

As the doors slid shut, the team took a moment to catch their breath.

"Joker? Are you at the rendezvous point?" Shepard asked.

"I'm here, Commander. Chakwas and the rest of the crew just showed up," Joker replied.

"Mordin's group just arrived, Shepard. No casualties," EDI reported.

"Excellent. Now let's make it count. EDI, what's our next step?" Miranda asked.

"There should be some nearby platforms that will take you to the main control console. From there you can override the system and destroy the base," EDI told them.

"Commander? You got a problem. Hostiles massing just outside the door. Won't be long until they bust through," Joker warned.

"A rearguard could defend this position and keep the Collectors from overwhelming us," Shepard said.

"Pick a team to go with you, Shepard. Everyone else can bunker down here and cover your back," Miranda suggested.

"Right. Garrus, Miranda, with me," Shepard ordered.

"I'm ready, Commander," Miranda told Shepard.

"Same here," Garrus agreed.

"Anything to say before we do this?" Miranda asked.

"The Collectors, the Reapers – they aren't a threat to us. They're a threat to everything - everyone. Those are the lives we're fighting for. That's the scale. It's been a long journey, and no one's coming out without scars. But it all comes down to this moment. We win or lose it all in the next few minutes. Make me proud. Make yourselves proud," Shepard told them.

"Well said. Let's go finish this," Miranda stated as the platform they were on began to float away.

Replacing her assault rifle with her shotgun, Alex took up a position on one side of the door whilst Grunt did the same on the other side. As the door opened, the rest of the team started shooting. In spite of the team's best efforts, the Collectors managed to push into the room. What they failed to do was look to either side.

As the first group of Collectors passed them, Grunt and Alex shot them in the backs with their shotguns. With the group in the room dealt with, the team was able to push up. Eventually, the team was able to take the threshold of the door. Taking positions, the team held there, keeping the Collectors back.

"Shepard to ground team. Status report," Shepard barked.

"It's Thane. We are holding, but they keep coming. A quick exit is preferable," the drell answered.

"Head to the _Normandy._ Joker - prep the engines. I'm about to overload this place and blow it sky high," Shepard informed everyone.

"Roger that, Commander," Joker responded.

The ground team started pushing forward, moving toward the _Normandy_. Slowly but surely the team managed to push the Collectors back. Approaching the _Normandy_, the team kept the Collectors at bay. As they approached, Mordin, Joker and some of the other crewmembers appeared in the opening hangar, providing covering fire. As the ground team ran into the hangar, the ramp started to rise. Joker immediately headed off to the cockpit to move them closer to Shepard's location.

As soon as Shepard's team was aboard, Joker swung the _Normandy _around and soared out of the exploding Collector Base. As they cleared the edge of the explosion, the slipspace drive activated, tearing a hole in space in front of the _Normandy_. As the _Normandy SR2_ soared into slipspace, the remains of the Collector Base drifted in space.


	27. Chapter 27

**Author's Note: I'm back again. After only a few days, I have a new chapter ready. At this point, we are returning to Admiral Christina Whyte. It will follow on from the end of Mass Effect 2, as covered in the last chapter, and will describe some of what has been happening in the rest of the galaxy. Now, on with the story…**

**Onboard the CUFS vessel **_**United Stand**_

"Shepard made the right call as far as the Confederacy's concerned. We have no need for the technology in that base," Whyte told the hologram in front of her.

"But Cerberus could have used that technology. With your refusal to share technology, Cerberus is on the same level as the rest of the galaxy and we've seen how well we fared against one Reaper. Shepard is also now blocking any attempts by me to contact her, meaning that she's now outside our control" the Illusive Man pointed out.

"Not yet. Until now, even when I've joined you, we have always contacted her via _your_ comm. lines. We have not used any of those available to me. If necessary, we have three means to contact her. I think we should contact her now, congratulate her and tell her that Admiral Hackett needs to speak to her," the woman suggested.

"Agreed. I'll route my link through yours. Ready when you are, Admiral," the Illusive Man responded.

There was a moment's wait before the hologram of Commander Alexis Shepard appeared before them.

"Illusive Man. I thought I made it clear I didn't want to speak with you again," Shepard snarled.

"Indeed. However, we're not quite done speaking with you yet. There are still some matters to be addressed," the man informed her.

"Firstly, congratulations on a job well done, Commander. I'm impressed with how well the mission went. Thanks to you, that's an asset the Reapers will no longer have access to," the Admiral stated, drawing the other woman's attention.

"Just doing my job, Admiral. Although I have to admit, looking back, why didn't the CUFS deal with the Collectors? You could have done so much faster," Shepard asked.

"Indeed we could. The problem was, that we would have drawn far more attention by bring even a handful of ships into the Terminus Systems, especially when we weren't directly affected. Also, as I'm sure EDI informed you, there are very few clear Slipspace courses through a galactic core, and even fewer that are completely safe. Hence, it was far easier for us to bring you back and provide you with what you needed to take on the Collectors. Do you understand our reasoning?" Whyte added.

"Yes. I guess that does make sense," Shepard agreed.

"Secondly, Admiral Hackett would like to speak to you as soon as possible at Arcturus Station. The subject is sufficiently delicate that he doesn't want even the remotest possibility of the communication being intercepted and decrypted. Lastly, bring the _Normandy_ by Horizon once you've attended to Hackett's matter. That'll allow Lieutenant 0704D to disembark, along with Brighter Than Light, as well as give us a chance to remove or lock any of our technology," Whyte ordered.

"Why not leave it? The Alliance and the Citadel could make good use of it," Shepard pointed out.

"Because you aren't ready for it yet. Not only that, it is always better to discover it yourself than have it given to you. Most of what the CUFS uses we invented. That which we didn't invent, we don't use until we understand it. You do not do that. The asari have used the Citadel and the Relays for longer than anyone else in the galaxy and yet they have no understanding of either. They couldn't repair or rebuild any of them if anything happened. Neither could we because we haven't had a chance to study both sides of a Relay system nor have we been able to examine the Citadel. If anything happens to them, they are done," Admiral Whyte explained.

"So help us to understand it all," Shepard suggested.

"We wouldn't particularly mind doing so. The problem is your end. Despite proof to the contrary, the Council still believes itself to be unrivalled. They struggle to accept that they are _not_ top dog anymore, that they are the ones who need help," Whyte seethed, obviously annoyed with the Council.

"The Council is narrow-minded, Shepard. If something doesn't fit in with their naïve view of the galaxy, it needs to be controlled or destroyed. The Confederacy refuses to be controlled and the Council has no chance to destroy them. As a result, the Council hates them, to the extent that everything the Confederacy says or does where the Council can notice it is disputed, argued over and blocked if possible. They refuse to accept any aid from the Confederacy and will probably do so even when the Reapers are wiping the floor with them," the Illusive Man ranted.

"I doubt it's that bad," Shepard disagreed.

"It is. Tevos and myself used to be relatively good friends but these days, with all the talk of Reapers, we find it impossible to talk anymore without arguing. If even Tevos, supposedly the wisest, most patient of the Council, refuses to acknowledge the facts, the rest of the Council most certainly will not. There is no hope for the Council and the majority of the Alliance believes in them. Only a few see that they are incompetent fools who cannot accomplish anything themselves. During the Rachni Wars, the Council had to bring in the krogan to defeat the rachni. During the Krogan Rebellions, the Council had to bring in the turians. During the battle with Sovereign and the geth, only the timely arrival of the Alliance Fifth Fleet and _Serenity_ saved the Council, the Citadel and the rest of the galaxy. Before joining the Council, I believe the turians would have been a competent military but the Council's arrogance has worn off on them, weakening them. The Alliance government has already succumbed in the space of two years, with only a few high ranking Alliance officials not doing so," Whyte noted.

"What about the Alliance military?" Shepard asked.

"It falls under the government. Thankfully, Admiral Hackett is one of those who haven't fallen yet. If there is one military leader outside of the Confederacy who can lead the galaxy through a war with the Reapers, it is Admiral Hackett. A tactical genius as well as a skilled negotiator when he has to be, he could keep the galaxy's militaries working as one once they've been brought together. That was why we brought you back, because you can bring them together, Shepard," the Illusive Man finished.

"If you have no other questions, Shepard, I believe we all have things to do," Whyte pointed out.

"No, I'm done. Thanks for all the help," Shepard stated.

"Thank _you_ for dealing with the Collectors, Shepard. We'll probably speak again soon, but until then, good luck out there," Whyte said.

The Illusive Man inclined his head in farewell before the connection ended. After another minute, the Illusive Man disconnected and Whyte moved out of the comm. room and toward her office.

"Admiral! We have a situation!" an ensign said as he ran up to her in the corridor.

Taking the datapad off him, she looked at it.

"Is this data authentic? Are we 100% certain?" Whyte asked.

"Yes, ma'am. The spy drones around the edge of the galaxy have provided CUFSI with visuals. It's definitely them," the ensign assured her.

"Dammit! I had hoped we would have more time. Return to your post, ensign," the Admiral ordered.

The ensign saluted before turning and returning along the corridor. Admiral Whyte proceeded down the corridor in the other direction, toward the bridge.

"Communications, prepare me a line to Admiral Hackett. Navigation, bring us about toward the Relay Galaxy and prepare for Slipspace. Candon, notify AFComm that I won't be joining them due to the imminent arrival of the Reapers," she ordered as she walked onto the bridge.

"Understood, ma'am. Alerting them now," Candon responded.

"Bringing us about now, Admiral. New heading locked, Slipspace drive ready and waiting," Denod reported.

"Admiral Hackett on the line, ma'am," Salera told her.

"Admiral Whyte, how can I help you?" Hackett asked as he appeared on a nearby screen.

"They're here. The Office of Naval Intelligence, one of CUFSI's branches, has confirmed visuals of them moving toward the galaxy," Whyte told him.

"Dammit! How long?" Hackett asked.

"A couple of weeks at most unless Shepard and Dr. Kenson can do something. The Bahak Relay is in their direct line and their likely entrance," Whyte explained.

"Dammit! And if Shepard and Kenson _can_ do something?" Hackett asked.

"Six months at _most_, depending on what they do. Worst-case scenario after them doing something, we have a month," Whyte told him, glancing up from her datapad.

Hackett bowed his head and raised his hand to his top lip.

"Thank god it's Shepard that's there then. If anyone can slow them enough to buy us six months, it's her," Hackett stated.

"Agreed. What of everyone else? Cerberus will work with us, we know that. But what of the Council? The Alliance? The Hegemony? The Migrant Fleet? The geth? The Krogan Clans? What are they doing and can they help us?" Whyte asked him.

"The Council races will likely only help us if their own colonies are attacked. The Alliance military answers to me, I'll do what I can to prepare them and ensure that they're ready to be at the forefront of the defence. The Hegemony will be highly reluctant to work with anyone but may be possible to convince if the Reapers attack them. The Migrant Fleet may join us but we believe they are planning on retaking Rannoch soon. We have yet to get someone in to speak with the geth, we continually get forced away before we can negotiate. As for the krogan, I've been speaking to Urdnot Wrex, head of an influential clan and former ally of Shepard's. He'll aid us, and bring all the clans he can, if we cure the Genophage," Hackett listed.

"Leave the Genophage to us but tell Urdnot Wrex that we'll leave a partial restriction so that they don't spread as fast and so cause a repeat of the Krogan Rebellions," Whyte suggested.

"Good idea. Urdnot Wrex is a smart krogan, he'll understand and probably agree that it's a good idea," Hackett pointed out.

"As for the Council, they are outside of our influence and that is unlikely to change so we can ignore them for now. If the Alliance needs any assistance, feel free to contact the Confederacy. I agree with you on the matter of the Hegemony, we'll have to wait for them to be attacked before we approach them. The fact that the quarians are preparing to attack Rannoch causes problems. That will potentially tie up both the quarians and the geth and prevent them from joining the war," Whyte muttered.

"I know. We need to avert that conflict. To be brutally honest, the geth are more likely to be a game changer than the quarians, much though I hate to say it," Hackett pointed out.

"Agreed. Ideally, we want both of them. Both would be more useful than one or the other but if it comes to it, the geth are the tactically-speaking the better option," Whyte agreed.

"The question is, how do we prevent that war? We have to assume that we only have a couple of weeks to stop it. Even if we end up having six months, I would much rather have that dealt with and be able to focus on preparing for the Reapers," Hackett said.

"Indeed. I'll see if we can get a Smart AI to communicate with the geth. Maybe they'll be more agreeable to responding to communications from another synthetic. We'll see. Can you try and at least stall the Migrant Fleet?" Whyte asked.

"I'll do my best. Is the Confederacy _really_ ready?" the Alliance officer asked.

"Yes. We have two thousand vessels already available to engage the Reapers as well as another four thousand capable of joining the war in a matter of days if necessary. CUFSI is already preparing a number of traps for the Reapers, both in space and on the ground," the CUFSAF Admiral assured her counterpart.

"I don't understand where you're getting all those ships but I'm glad to hear that you're managing to do something. Can I have a copy of your data on the incoming Reapers?" he asked after a pause.

"Of course. Hopefully you can convince the Alliance to prepare," Whyte responded.

"Yeah, hopefully," Hackett sighed, evidently sceptical of his chances.

"Admiral, I have the Illusive Man on the line. He wants to speak with you immediately," Salera interrupted them from his station.

"Admiral Hackett? Do you mind if he joins us?" Whyte asked.

"Not at all. Those of us who know should work together even if we wouldn't previously," Hackett agreed.

Whyte nodded toward Denod, who typed at his console.

"Admiral Whyte. Admiral Hackett," the Illusive Man greeted them, slightly surprised to find Hackett present.

"Illusive Man. You wanted to speak to me?" Whyte prompted.

"Indeed. It concerns the Reapers," the Illusive Man stated.

"Yes, I wanted to speak to you about them as well. They're on their way. A couple of weeks at worst, half a year at best," Whyte said.

"That causes problems. Fortunately, my news is better. Shepard and her crew managed to retrieve data on the Reapers during their campaign against the Collectors. We have schematics for their weapons, shields and everything else. With these, we can develop countermeasures or replicate their technology," the Illusive Man explained.

"That is good news. Unfortunately, the Alliance higher-ups won't let me refit vessels because they are aware that I believe in the Reapers. As a result, I actually have very little control over the fleet these days, with almost everything I say having to go through the Defence Committee" Hackett informed the other two.

"I can deal with that. We can't deal with all of them but once we've finished upgrading our ships, we can swap your ships for ours in disguise. Once we swap the ships, we can refit them and then return them to you before repeating the process. That way, we could upgrade the equivalent of half the Fifth Fleet within a couple of weeks. Within six months, we should be able to have a quarter of the Navy refitted, at most," the Illusive Man said.

"That would be most helpful. If even a quarter of the Navy is refitted, that should help, a lot," Hackett agreed.

"If it will speed up the process, the CUFS can provide assistance. We have some shipyards we could use to refit them with the Reaper technology," Whyte suggested.

"One moment. That would speed up the process significantly. If Cerberus were to keep a handful of vessels capable of combat whilst swapping the rest into the Alliance for brief periods, we could, theoretically, refit twice the amount of vessels in the same time frame," the Illusive Man said, looking at a screen out of view of the Admirals.

"I'll start making arrangements to temporarily empty ships long enough for them to be swapped. If you'll excuse me," Hackett stated before his image vanished.

"I'll prepare my ships for the operation. I'm also going to check on Leng. He's been acting oddly and I'm getting slightly suspicious of him. But that's my concern at the moment; I'll tell you if it escalates. Good day, Admiral Whyte," the Illusive Man remarked, before also vanishing from the screen.

"Ready the comm. room. I need to speak with AFComm about which shipyards we can send the Alliance's vessels to," Whyte ordered as she left the bridge.


	28. Chapter 28

**Author's Note: Hiya, people. I hope you appreciate how much I'm uploading and I also hope you won't get used to it. This is currently a quiet time for me, so I have time to write. Sorry this chapter is shorter than most. It isn't an overly exciting chapter either, really only serving to explain part of the story that have/will change. Now, we will jump six months, to the early stages of the Reaper War…**

**Onboard the Citadel**

Admiral Whyte stood on the side of the walkway facing the Council, while Liara T'Soni stood on the other side. Their current squabble would have been amusing were it not for the situation.

"We've got our own problems, Councillor. Earth is not in this alone," Sparatus was saying as Shepard approached.

"But Earth was the first Council world hit. By all reports it faces the brunt of the attack," a haggard-looking Donnel Udina responded.

"By your reports…" Valern countered.

"The reports are accurate. CUFSI confirms that the Sol System has suffered a significantly more concentrated attack than any other Council system," Admiral Whyte informed the Council.

"This is just the beginning. We need your help. Everything you can spare," Shepard demanded.

"Each of us faces a similar situation. Even now, the Reapers are pressing on our borders. If we lend you our strength to help Earth, our own worlds will fall," Tevos argued.

"We must fight this enemy together!" Udina retorted.

"Indeed. But that will not be accomplished by rushing to Earth. Earth is temporarily lost, CUFSI agents were barely able to evacuate through the huge blockade the Reapers have installed over Earth. No, we need to break the Reapers lines in other places, free up the fleets, before we retake Earth," Whyte explained.

"Even if we were to unite our fleets, do you really believe we could defeat the Reapers? Even the CUFS is unable to break out of their systems, never mind the rest of us," Sparatus pointed out.

"I don't expect you to follow me without a plan," Shepard agreed, before nodding to T'Soni.

"Councillors, Admiral… we have that plan. A blueprint. Created by the Protheans during their war with the Reapers," T'Soni began.

"A blueprint for what?" Sparatus asked.

"We're still piecing it together… But it appears to be a weapon of some sort," T'Soni explained as she projected a hologram from her omnitool.

"Capable of destroying the Reapers?" Valern queried.

"So it would seem," Liara answered.

"The scale is… it would be a colossal undertaking," Valern pointed out.

"No. I forwarded the plans to Admiral Hackett. The human fleet are already gathering resources to begin construction," Shepard corrected.

"Our initial calculations suggest it is very feasible to build," T'Soni added.

"If we work together…" Shepard continued.

"Have you considered that the Reapers destroyed the Protheans? What good did this weapon do?" Tevos disputed.

"It was incomplete. There was a missing component. Here. Something referred to only as the Catalyst. But they ran out of time before they could finish building it," the younger asari explained.

"Do you really believe this can stop the Reapers?" the turian councillor asked.

"Liara believes it can work, and so do I. And while I haven't always agreed with Udina, he's right about this… we need to stand together. Now more than ever. The Reapers won't stop at Earth. They'll destroy every organic being in the galaxy if we don't find a way to stop them," Shepard told them.

"The cruel and unfortunate truth is that while the Reapers focus on Earth, we can prepare and regroup," Tevos pointed out.

"We are convening a summit amongst our species. If we can manage to secure our own borders, we may once again consider aiding you," Valern told the Spectre.

"I'm sorry, Commander. That is-" Tevos started before the hologram activated.

"Illusive Man," Shepard growled when the figure coalesced.

"Commander Shepard, Councillors, Admiral," the Illusive Man greeted.

"Your men tried to kill me on Mars, what makes you think there is anything here for you?" Shepard snarled at him.

"Those were not _my_ men, Shepard. Cerberus is currently experiencing a… schism. A relatively significant proportion of the organisation has gone rogue, led by Kai Leng who used to be my top assassin. Thankfully, the majority of Cerberus has remained loyal to me," the Illusive Man explained.

"I told you to be more careful around Leng, Illusive Man. You gave him too much freedom," Whyte scolded him, much to most people's shock.

"Admiral Whyte, you know him?" Sparatus asked.

"Indeed. Cerberus and the Confederacy worked together to bring back Shepard and help her stop the Collectors. We've been working to counter the Reapers since," Whyte responded, just as another hologram appeared.

"Councillors, Admiral, Commander, Illusive Man," Admiral Hackett greeted.

"Admiral Hackett. How are the upgrades working? Meeting expectations, I hope," the Illusive Man asked, ignoring the shocked looks of the Council, Shepard and T'Soni.

"Excellently. Initial estimations from the battle with Sovereign would have suggested that we would have lost the equivalent of over three fleets, at least. As it is, we lost just over two fleets. I called to check if anyone required immediate assistance," Hackett said, addressing the last bit to everyone.

"The peace summit was called by Primarch Fedorian. Problem is, we lost contact with him when the Reapers hit Palaven. The talks won't proceed without him. He needs to be retrieved," Sparatus stated.

"The Alliance should be able to cover the _Normandy_ so that she can extract him," Hackett agreed.

"Wait three hours. At that point, the CUFS lines will be reinforced at we'll be able to provide some ships as well. Until then, the CUFS installed a number of traps for the Reapers. We'll put them to use now," Whyte suggested.

"Thank you, Admirals. Your assistance is most appreciated," Sparatus replied gratefully.

"No problem. If we can stand together, we can win this. But to win we need to _all_ stand together, not just when it suits us to have allies," Hackett remarked, obviously critising the asari and salarian Councillors.

"Admiral Hackett, Councillor Sparatus, could we speak in my office? I would like to go over some things before we move to extract the Primarch," Whyte suggested.

"Agreed. I'll be with you momentarily, Admirals," Sparatus agreed.

With a nod toward the Council, Hackett's hologram vanished, leaving the holographic Illusive Man. With a slight inclination of the head, Whyte turned and left.

As she left, she heard the Illusive Man's response to something one of the others must have said.

"We're at war. We don't always get to choose who we fight alongside, only why we fight with them."


	29. Chapter 29

**Author's Note: Hello, my dear readers. I'm updating again and much though I would like to say it is because I love you so much, it's actually more to do with me being bored. This will feature the extraction of the Primarch and the return of a squad member as well as something that everyone has been asking about.**

**Onboard the **_**SSV Edinburgh**_

Rear Admiral Warren Gill of the Human Systems Alliance stood in the CIC of his vessel, the cruiser _SSV Edinburgh_, watching as the holographic representation of the four other cruiser and twenty-five frigates of the 72nd, 73rd, 74th, 75th and 76th Scout Flotillas floated by the Relay to the Trebia System. They were waiting for the arrival of the _SSV Normandy_ as well as two CUFS battlegroups.

As the _Normandy_ arrived from the Relay, eleven slipspace portals opened. Eight CUFS frigates emerged, followed by two 1km ships with a 2.5km vessel bringing up the rear.

"This Commander Shepard of the _SSV Normandy_ to all ships. Report," Shepard's voice came over the comm. line.

"This is Rear Admiral Franklin of the 72nd Alliance Scout Flotilla, all ships are green," a woman's voice responded.

"Rear Admiral Karlenko of the 73rd Scout Flotilla, ready when you are," the man reported.

"74th Scout Flotilla under Rear Admiral Gill is set and waiting for orders," Gill told the others.

"75th Scout Flotilla under Rear Admiral Sato standing by," reported another man.

"76th Scout Flotilla under Rear Admiral Connor ready to engage," came a woman's voice.

"_Spirit of Fire, Pillar of Courage, Majestic Dusk, Never Say Never, Memory of Peace, Wrath of Light, Emerald Dream, Nightmare Runner, Revealing Light, Medusa _and _Safe Return_ of the CUFS under Rear Admiral Cutter, reporting as ordered," came another man's voice.

"Glad to see you up and running again, _Spirit of Fire._ Now then, I suggest the Scout Flotillas head through the Relay ahead of the _Normandy_ to distract from the _Normandy_'s arrival. Then, the _Spirit of Fire_ and her companions will move to arrive right above Menae once the other ships have shown them the layout of the battlefield. Once everyone is present, we only need to stay long enough for us to pick up the Primarch and extract him. No heroics, we're not here to save the turians yet. Understood?" Shepard stated.

Once the other officers demonstrated their agreement, the plan was executed. As the frigates proceeded through the Relay, the cruisers formed up behind them before following suit. Reaching the other side, they found themselves looking at a battlefield.

Reapers and Hierarchy ships traded fire around Palaven and Menae whilst the planet itself burned in the background. As the cruisers moved into formation with the frigates, the _Edinburgh_ transmitted the sensor data to the CUFS ships, showing them the space above Menae. Moments later, the two battlegroups appeared directly above Menae. As she cruised out of slipspace, the _Spirit of Fire_ opened fire on a descending Reaper Destroyer with her two new guns. Two 600-ton slugs soared through space at sixty kilometres per second before impacting on the Destroyer and obliterating it.

The Alliance Flotillas joined their Confederacy counterparts above Menae, doing their best to keep the Reapers preoccupied in space.

"_SSV Leipzig,_ you've got fighters to your port, watch yourself. _Monmouth_, move to assist her. _Waterloo, Arsuf, Bannockburn,_ come up on my flanks and concentrate fire on that Destroyer," Gill ordered.

The frigates hastened to obey, with the combined fire of the _Leipzig_ and _Monmouth_ making short work of the fighters while concentrated fire from the _Edinburgh, Waterloo, Arsuf_ and _Bannockburn_ was able to deal with the Destroyer.

"All ships, this is the _Moscow._ We have a _Sovereign_-class Reaper on approach and require immediate assistance," Karlenko called over comms.

"This is the _Edinburgh_. Confirmed, _Moscow. _74th Flotilla is moving to assist," Gill informed him as the six ships swung around and moved to engage the Reaper.

"This is _Beijing,_ 76th Flotilla en route," Connor reported.

"This is _Pillar of Courage_. We will be moving to assist with _Medusa _and _Safe Return_," came another voice as the aforementioned ships changed their heading.

As the 74th Flotilla arrived at the _Moscow_'s coordinates, the second last frigate of the 73rd Flotilla exploded under fire from the Reaper. Moments later, the 76th Flotilla arrived, followed by the _Courage, Medusa_ and _Return._ Under the combined firepower of the fifteen ships, the Reaper's shields fell before the Reaper itself broke apart.

"Karlenko, this is Gill. I suggest you retreat before you get engaged again. Both your remaining ships are badly damaged and can't do much more here," Gill pointed out.

"Agreed. Good luck. See you later, Gill," Karlenko responded, before pulling back to the Relay.

When no other Reapers moved into the nearby area, the remaining ships locked themselves into geosynchronous orbit above Menae.

"Rear Admiral Gill, this is Shepard. The nearby communication tower is down, can we route a call to Palaven Command through the _Edinburgh_?" the Commander asked.

"Yes, ma'am. Ready to transfer communication to Palaven Command," Gill informed her.

For a couple of minutes, nothing else occurred. Then Shepard contacted them again.

"Thank you, Rear Admiral. You've saved us a lot of time. Give us another half hour at most and then we can leave," Shepard told him.

"Yes, ma'am. We're holding position and are ready to engage as necessary," Gill reported before the comm. line closed.

The small fleet sat in orbit for a while, weapons ready to fire at a moment's notice. As they waited they spotted a crippled turian cruiser swept by, with a Reaper not far behind.

"Mayday, mayday. This is the _TSV Resolute_, our weapons, shields and sensors are offline and we have multiple hull breaches. We need immediate assistance. Repeat, we need immediate assistance," a turian voice cried over an open comm. channel.

"This is the _CUFS Spirit of Fire_. We read you, _Resolute_. We are moving to cover you, head to the Relay and get out of here," Cutter ordered.

The eleven Confederacy ships immediately advanced on the Reaper, opening fire as soon as they were in range. Within two barrages, the CUFS ships had obliterated the cruisers pursuer, giving the _Resolute_ an opportunity to reach the Relay unhindered.

"Thank you, _Spirit of Fire._ Good luck out there," the turian remarked.

As the turian cruiser left, the _Normandy_ raced up from the surface.

"All ships, this is Shepard. We have Primarch Victus and are ready to depart. Come on," Shepard ordered.

Just then, another unencrypted communication went out on almost all frequencies.

"This is Fleet Admiral Coronati to all ships. Fall back, get out of here. Repeat, this is Fleet Admiral Coronati, all ships retreat," came another turian's voice.

"Get out of here, Shepard. You too, Rear Admirals. Battlegroups 3-09 and 3-15, form up on the _Spirit of Fire_, we're going to help cover the turian retreat," Cutter ordered.

"Good luck, Cutter. Shepard out," Shepard responded before the line was cut.

As the eleven ships cruised toward the retreating turian lines, Rear Admiral Gill couldn't help but take one last look at them before the Alliance ships vanished through the Relay.


	30. Chapter 30

**Author's Note: Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I'm returning once again. To the war summit this time, but with some differences…**

**Onboard the **_**SSV Normandy SR2**_

"The krogan is in no position to make demands!" the salarian Dalatrass exclaimed as Shepard walked into the conference room.

The holographic representations of Whyte, Hackett and the Illusive Man shook their heads in frustration.

"The 'krogan' has a name: Urdnot Wrex. And I'm not just some junkyard varren you unleash whenever you're in trouble. I've got my own problems. Reaper scouts have arrived on Tuchanka. So why should I care if a few turians go extinct?" Wrex asked.

"Trying to draw out negotiations will get you nowhere, Wrex. I have no time for it. Just tell us what you want," Victus told the large krogan.

"I'll tell you what I need. A cure for the Genophage," Wrex stated, with a look toward Hackett.

"Absolutely not! The Genophage is nonnegotiable!" the Dalatrass exclaimed.

"Why are you so opposed to the idea, Dalatrass?" Shepard asked.

"Because my people uplifted the krogan. We know them best," Linron retorted.

"Actually, it is exactly that which stops you from seeing the krogan in a different light. Because you uplifted them for war, you have the arrogant belief that they only know that which you wanted them to. I have been to Tuchanka and can personally assure you that, contrary to popular belief, there is more to the krogan than fighting," Hackett disagreed.

"You wouldn't understand. My ancestors saw the horrors the krogan unleashed. I will not allow these… beasts to once more freely give in to their… urges," the Dalatrass disputed.

"Dalatrass, you may not like him, but Wrex is right. Insulting him won't change that," Victus reprimanded.

"I won't apologize for speaking the truth! We uplifted the krogan to do one thing: wage war. It's all they know because it's all we wanted them to know," Linron argued.

"And I have already pointed out that that is not true," Hackett pointed out, exasperation showing.

"Your people should have thought the matter through, then. Was it really a surprise the krogan revolted?" Shepard asked.

"That's precisely my point, Commander. We made a rash decision. We turned to the krogan in desperation. It's the same mistake you're about to make today. No good can come from curing the Genophage."

"The krogan have paid for their mistakes. The Genophage has gone on long enough," Shepard pointed out.

"One thousand, four hundred and seventy-six years, if you're keeping track," Wrex commented.

"It was a thousand years of peace, free from these… brutes!" Linron disagreed.

"ENOUGH! Whether or not they deserve a cure is academic. It would take years to formulate one," Victus pointed out.

"Incorrect. The CUFS has a cure in the making. We just need another week or so and we'll be done. That good enough for you, Wrex?" Whyte interrupted, earning shocked looks.

"I'm glad to see you kept your word," Wrex remarked.

"The Confederacy always does what it claims it will do. Although keep in mind what we'd agreed," Whyte warned.

"What, the limit of forty as opposed to the original a hundred? Yes, and I still believe that it is necessary," Wrex agreed.

"Glad to hear it. Like I said, one week," Whyte finished.

"Good. But then there is also the matter of the krogan females, currently in the hands of the salarians," Wrex continued.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Linron disputed.

"Don't lie to me. These are my people we're talking about. And I want them back," Wrex stated.

"Dalatrass, is that true?" Victus asked, outraged.

"I still fail to see why we need the krogan. We have the Confederacy…" the Dalatrass began.

"The Confederacy is struggling to hold its borders. We have almost twice as many Reapers knocking on our doors as there are in the entirety of Citadel space. Once we receive backup, we can move to aid the rest of the galaxy. Until then, all I can spare is the eleven vessels that helped cover the turian withdrawal at Palaven," Whyte informed everyone.

"Whilst I may not be fond of the fact, we do need the krogan. They could turn the tide, take the pressure off the Confederacy and allow their navy to aid us. That would ensure that more krogan could actually get groundside, hence liberating more planets and providing us with more resources for the war," the Illusive Man pointed out.

"There is also the fact that, if you help us, Dalatrass, we will be more inclined to help you. If you work against us, I can assure you that the Alliance will not rush to your aid should you call," Hackett mentioned.

"Not to mention that I'll be the last friendly turian you ever see," Victus threatened.

"The females are being held in an STG base on Sur'Kesh," Linron revealed after a moment.

"Let's go," Shepard ordered.

"You're not setting foot on Sur'Kesh! We need to organise…" Linron began shouting.

"It happens now. As a Spectre, Shepard is authorised to enter an STG base at will. Under Council law, you can't actually stop her from doing so," Victus reminded the salarian.

"Guess that's all then. Good day, ladies and gentlemen," Whyte said in parting, before disconnecting from the summit.

Striding out into one of the _United Stand_'s hallways, she turned toward her office. Once she arrived, she sat down at her desk.

"Candon, sitrep," she ordered.

The AI's avatar appeared on her desk as he started speaking.

"The Reapers are attempting to press their attack but we're holding on all fronts, although Vice Admiral George Campbell and Rear Admiral (Upper Half) Michael Frost are requesting some more ships after the Reapers last attacks on their positions," Candon informed her.

"Grant their requests, send what we can," Whyte ordered.

"Understood. Two battlegroups will be dispatched to join each of them. Then there is also Rear Admiral (Lower Half) James Cutter, who is requesting orders," Candon added.

"What's the status of his ships?" Whyte asked.

"Almost perfect. The destroyer _Nightmare Runner_ was the worst damaged but has been fully repaired," Candon recited.

"Excellent. Tell Cutter that until further notice, he answers to Admiral Hackett. Obviously, if Hackett's orders go against any orders or protocols of the CUFS, the Confederacy comes first," Whyte instructed.

"Aye, ma'am. Is that all?" Candon asked.

"Yes, it is. Speak to you later, Candon," she said.

"See you later, ma'am," Candon responded before his avatar disappeared.

'Now then, on to the fun things in life. Oh how I _love_ administration' Whyte mentally groaned.


	31. Chapter 31

**Author's Note: Sorry it has been so long but I'm back with another chapter. Here we will see some of the actual fighting at the CUFS planet Dominion (hopefully well written) and Cutter will also be making himself useful. The bit at the end is kind of random but it wanted to be there so it is. I'll probably use it later as well.**

**Onboard the **_**CUFS Dawn of Night**_

"Vice Admiral! The Reapers are attempting to flank us on our starboard side! The _Dauntless_ and her escort can't hold them off!" Garun shouted from the sensors.

"Order the _Silver Nebula_ and her battlegroup to reinforce them. Get the _Unyielding Guardian_ onto our port flank. And how long until my bloody reinforcements arrive?" Campbell demanded from the holographic map of the battle.

"ETA of reinforcements is ten minutes and counting. Dominion's ground forces are reporting that some Reaper forces have managed to make their way groundside. CUFS forces have engaged and are holding," Aileen reported.

"Sir! The _Righteous Darkness_ is reporting major damage from that last volley of concentrated fire. She's requesting permission to pullback to initiate emergency repairs," Johnson informed him.

"Give her the go ahead. Send the _Killing Blow, Midnight Rage, Final Chance _and _Saving Grace_ to take her place," Campbell ordered.

To the left of the _Dawn of Night_, a former Covenant battlecruiser pulled out of formation to fall back behind the planet. Two frigates and two destroyers slid in to take her place, preventing the Reapers from taking advantage of the gap.

"Get me a firing solution on the Reaper marked Romeo-019. I want it gone, ladies and gentlemen," Campbell shouted.

"Targeting solution set. Launching plasma torpedo," Faren reported as she tapped away at the hard-light buttons of her console.

A blue bolt of plasma lanced out from the supercarrier's port side, homing in on the unfortunate Reaper. Upon impact, the torpedo vaporised the entire right-hand side of the evading Reaper. The bridge crew let out a couple of victorious grins.

"Seriously, why do they even bother?" Johnson cheered.

"We have Relay activity! Thirty Reapers just jumped in!" Garun shouted over the cheers.

"Tell the _Call of Honour_ to take her escort to join the _Dauntless _and _Silver Nebula_ and take those things out! Aileen, when are our reinforcements arriving?" Campbell called.

"Two minutes, sir," Aileen told him.

"Sir! The _Infinite Darkness_ is taking damage! They've lost power to their main guns!" Johnson reported.

"Order her to pull back! Now!"

"Too late! Reapers just struck her reactor! The _Darkness_ is down!" Garun growled.

"Dammit! Send in the _Serenity_ to cover her position, we can't let the Reapers take advantage of the gap!" Campbell ordered.

"Understood! Relaying n- Sir! Incoming Slipspace hail from the _Resplendent Divinity_!" Johnson called.

"Vice Admiral? This is Captain Kilik. Battlegroups 3-14 and 3-20 will be exiting Slipspace shortly. Do you have any specific targets for us?" the squeaky voice of an Unggoy asked over the comm. line.

"As a matter of fact, Captain, I do. I'm transmitting ship positions to you now. Once you exit Slipspace, I want you to take out Romeo-043 through -053. Got it?" Campbell checked.

"Received and understood. Weapons ready. We will fire as soon as we have locked on. Exiting Slipspace in thirty seconds," Kilik reported.

"Good. Campbell, out," the Vice Admiral said.

As the _Dawn_ fired an MAC round into a nearby Reaper, ten Slipspace portals opened behind the Reapers. Within a second, the two cruisers and eight frigates opened fire, wiping ten Reapers off the face of the universe. The two battlegroups worth of vessels charged through the gap this left in the Reapers formation, broadside guns tearing into the Reapers. As they swung into formation with the other twenty-odd vessels, they synced their fire with their surrounding vessels.

As the newly reinforced Confederacy fleet coordinated fire, the Reapers started to pull back toward the Relay.

"Hold position! Do NOT pursue! I said HOLD POSITION!" Campbell bellowed over a fleet wide comm. as a couple of ships started to move to pursue.

"We win this round."

**Onboard the **_**CUFS Spirit of Fire**_

"Look, Mr Vaator. I understand that you are a Council Spectre. But that does not give you the authority to go poking around my ship. You are here only because we happened to pick you up on Erinle, you do not have permission to wander around the ship," Cutter explained.

"As Council Spectre, can go anywhere. Legally, you are not allowed to stop me," the salarian in question retorted.

"As a matter of fact, I can. You are on a Confederacy vessel, which in no way answers to the Council. Even though we are currently "on loan" to Admiral Hackett, standard protocol still applies. You are only allowed in unrestricted areas of the ship," the Captain told him.

With an irritated huff, Vaator stalked from the bridge. Cutter sighed in relief as the door closed behind the salarian.

"Serina, how long until we reach the Citadel? I want to get rid of our guest," Cutter sneered.

"It will take us another ten minutes to reach the station of the stuck-up. Are you sure you don't want to shoot something while we're there?" Serina asked.

"Yes, Serina. We don't need to start another war with the one already going on."

Meanwhile, Vaator walked down the hallway toward one of the hangars. As he stepped into the lift, he started working on his omnitool. As the lift began to descend, he ran a scan of his surroundings that revealed nothing interesting. Once the lift stopped, he stepped out and walked toward the hangar. As he stepped in, he was once again caught slightly off guard by the scale of the hangar which could have fitted an entire wing of salarian fighters with plenty of room to spare.

He casually wandered over to a Pelican dropship before sitting down on a crate next to it. He proceeded to run a quiet scan of the dropship, not noticing the hologram nearby watching him.

"You do realise that I'm aware of what you're doing?" Serina finally mentioned, causing the Spectre to jump slightly.

"Don't see why current activities on extranet concern you. Not dangerous in any way," Vaator stated.

"You are correct, I have no concerns about what you do on the extranet. Scanning a Confederate vessel, on the other hand, does concern me. Don't do it. Some of the crew are just looking for an excuse to throw you out of the nearest airlock and if you keep doing that, the Captain may let them," Serina advised.

"As a Council Spectre-"

"-You still have to play by our rules when you're on our ships. I can read you the entire treaty if you want but the bottom line is, the treaty explicitly states that Spectres hold no authority as far as the Confederacy goes. So, stop pretending you have total authority," Serina retorted.

"We've arrived at the Citadel, Spectre. There's a shuttle coming to pick you up. Good luck out there," Cutter told the Spectre as he walked into the hangar.

"Thank you, Captain. Hope to work with you again sometime," the salarian responded with a nod as he walked toward the shuttle as it landed.

"Good riddance," Serina commented as the shuttle swooped back out of the hangar.

"Quite. Mind you, one of his questions raised a valid point which I didn't want to address with him around," Cutter said, turning to the hologram.

"Oh? And what might that be, Captain?" Serina asked.

"We were drifting for over half a century. You've definitely passed your expiration date so why are you still in service?" Cutter queried.

"After numerous tests, they realised that I'd already passed rampancy. I've actually reached a stage called metastability, which means I basically have the mind of a living being. It's extremely rare for AIs to reach this stage but because no one was there to shut me down when I went rampant, I was forced to work my way past it on my own. I'm told it's a miracle I didn't launch all the cryopods into space," Serina explained.

"Well, I'm thankful you made it. Wouldn't be the same without you," Cutter told the AI.

"I'm flattered but I'm sure you'll cope. If I'm honest though, from what I remember, thinking of what you would say was one of the things that stopped me doing anything dangerous to the crew. I must admit, I've never wanted to disappoint you," Serina admitted.

"You'd have to do something major for that to happen, Serina. If you ever need to talk, you know where I am," Cutter responded as he stepped back onto the elevator.

"Aye sir," Serina agreed.

Serina's avatar watched as the lift doors slid shut. Had anyone been nearby at the time, they would have heard her mutter to herself.

"Thanks, father."


	32. Chapter 32

**Author's Note: Lunchtime in one of the school's Computing classrooms is probably not the best place to start writing this but, hey who cares? People seemed to like the last chapter so here is another chapter, this time with Shepard (sorry about any OOCness). Either way, Master Chief and Cortana are unlikely to appear in this story. Enjoy (or not, I don't really care).**

**Onboard the **_**SSV Normandy SR2**_

Shepard stood behind Joker's seat as the _Normandy_ left the Relay. The Alliance Fifth Fleet sat in orbit around the fifth planet, accompanied by the eleven warships of the Confederacy.

"Commander, the _SSV Orizaba_ is hailing us," EDI reported from the co-pilot's chair.

"Put them on," Shepard ordered.

"_SSV Normandy,_ this is the _SSV Orizaba._ Please transmit clearance codes," an operator said over the comm. line.

"This is Commander Shepard. Clearance code seven niner dash victor one dash four echo foxtrot dash alpha sierra," Shepard recited.

"Clearance confirmed. Proceed on your current course. The _CUFS Spirit of Fire_ will provide further instructions. _Orizaba_, out."

The _Normandy_ cruised through among the other vessels, including the comparatively huge _Orizaba_. Shepard watched in slight awe as they passed one of the most famous fleets in the Alliance.

"_SSV Normandy,_ this is the _CUFS Spirit of Fire._ Change your heading to vector two zero dash seven three dash zero one. Hangar Five has been cleared for your temporary use," Serina's voice announced over the comm.

"Confirmed, _Spirit of Fire_. Adjusting course to vector two zero dash seven three dash zero one. Proceeding to designated hangar," Joker responded.

The _Normandy_ adjusted her heading appropriately, now on an intercept course with the _Spirit of Fire_. As she approached the larger ship, the crew saw the smaller craft whizzing around it like hornets around a nest. The Alliance frigate slid into the hangar, albeit with little room to spare. The starship touched down as Shepard turned toward the elevator.

"Who the hell gave you the authorisation to come aboard this ship?" James Vega shouted as Shepard stepped out of the lift.

"Considering one of them was on this ship when it was taking on the Collectors, Vega, she has every right to be aboard. As for him, he's with her which means he's probably fine as well," Garrus retorted.

Standing in the middle of the shuttle bay with Garrus and James were two massive figures, both heavily armoured. The smaller, obviously female figure was dressed in heavy purple armour with two rifles strapped to her back. Upon recognising her, Shepard forgot about her companion.

"Lieutenant Alex. How are you?" Shepard shouted as she approached the quartet.

"Been good, Commander. Fighting the Reapers on the ground is easy compared to fighting-" Alex began before her companion cleared his throat in warning.

"Right, classified. Sorry, sir. Commander Shepard, allow me to introduce Commander Grade 2 Frederic-104 of the SPARTAN-IIs," Alex said, indicating her companion.

Shepard looked at the figure and realised quite why the SPARTAN-IIs had caused so much fear with their mere presence. Frederic was clad in heavy olive green armour, even bigger and tougher looking than Alex's. An opaque orange visor obscured his face. He had a large combat knife strapped to his chest and another strapped to his right shoulder guard. A shotgun and an assault rifle were strapped to his back with a pistol stuck to each thigh as well. The number 104 was stencilled in white onto the left side of his chest piece.

"Pleasure to meet you, Commander. Call me Fred," the figure greeted.

"Nice to meet you too. I've heard good things about the SPARTAN-IIs," Shepard told him.

"Well, I've been assigned to accompany you on Tuchanka. Intel indicates that there is a high concentration of Reaper forces around the Shroud facility. Hence, they wanted the best," Fred stated.

"That sounds arrogant," Shepard commented.

"It isn't arrogance. He's stating a fact. Only the best of the Sangheili can even come close to matching a SPARTAN-II," Alex remarked.

"Too true. Either way, I requisitioned some equipment for the mission. Follow me," the man ordered as he turned toward the ramp.

The other four hurried to join him. As they stepped out, Shepard noticed some crates sitting nearby.

"These crates contain some weapons and ammunition. That includes some SPNKr launchers, railguns and a SPARTAN laser plus ammunition for each. There is also some spare ammunition for my guns in those two crates. This crate contains some short-range Slipspace comms. which are immune to any jamming the Reapers are capable of. This here contains the cure, which we'd like Mordin Solus to look over whilst on your ship. These two crates were requested by Brighter Than Light, who will join us in a minute," Fred finished, indicating the crates as he mentioned them.

"Wow, that's not a lot o' guns, big guy," James commented sarcastically.

"Hey, I wanted to bring a Mammoth but I was told that was too much," Fred shrugged.

"Mammoth?" Garrus asked, cautiously.

"An armoured transport/command centre that is just over 100m long and about thirty wide. It's about a dozen metres tall as standard but due to the mini Magnetic Accelerator Cannon is actually about twice that. It has numerous gun emplacements and can transport numerous LRVs. It's the Confederacy's most powerful ground vehicle," Alex elaborated.

"I don't think that would have fitted in the hangar," Shepard commented, shocked.

"Yeah, that was Cutter's reasoning too. Thankfully, he did let me bring this," Fred said.

As they rounded some crates that had been piled high, a vehicle came into view. Sitting there was a brown-painted tank, with a cannon sitting at the back of the tank, which was almost as long as the whole tank. It sat on four treads, which were protected by metal guards. A machine gun was nestled in front of the turret for the main gun.

"The M808B Scorpion MBT. The current model includes shields, a machine gun on either side of the main gun and storage space in the bottom at the front. Its main gun fires 90mm Tungsten shells at a rate of one every four seconds while the machine guns fire 7.62mm armour-piercing rounds at a high rate. Would require a gunner, pilot and machine gunner normally but a SPARTAN can use the tank without the need for a gunner," Fred explained.

"That is one mean looking tank," James commented.

"Wait until you see this baby in action. She is beautiful," the male SPARTAN crowed.

"Well, I'll leave you to it. I got to go speak to Cutter. It was good to see you again, Shepard," Alex said as she moved toward the elevator.

"Why don't you come with us?" Shepard asked as the three guys started discussing the abilities of the Scorpion tank.

"I would but it's a miracle you're getting a single SPARTAN, even temporarily. The fact that that SPARTAN is Frederic-104, one of the best, is a testament to how important the CUFS considers your current mission. So, I'm sorry but I can't join you, Shepard. Good luck out there," Alex said in parting before the lift doors slid shut.

Shepard looked around as she heard a loud laugh. Javik had joined the group clustered around the tank and was now discussing the result of a potential fight between a Prothean tank and the Scorpion.

"Alright, gentlemen, come on. We need to get to Tuchanka ASAP. Let's get all this onboard," Shepard ordered as the lift opened again to release Brighter Than Light into the hangar.

The Huragok clicked and whistled as he floated by. Everyone else looked confused but Fred chuckled.

"He said that he's glad to be back, hopes you didn't wreck anything and that he preferred the old paint job. He also thinks you've gained weight, Commander," the SPARTAN added, earning laughs from the rest of the group while Shepard blushed as red as her hair.

"I have not," Shepard argued.

"Hey, Light said it. Don't shoot the messenger and all that," Fred retorted.

"Just… get all this on the ship," Shepard grumbled as she slouched onto the ship.

Amidst new laughter, the four men started moving the crates onto the _Normandy_. Cortez joined them after a while, speeding up the work with the now-five people shifting cargo.

As it approached the six-minute mark, the _Normandy_'s lift door opened. The smooth, curvy form of EDI's robotic body stepped out and began to walk toward them.

"Allow me," EDI said, taking a heavy crate off Cortez.

"Thanks. It isn't actually that heavy, we've just been at it for a while and I'm out of practice," Cortez admitted.

"It is fine, Cortez. I am more than happy to assist," EDI responded, placing the crate in the place Cortez indicated.

"Good morning. You must be this EDI I've heard about. Commander Grade 2 Frederic-104. Call me Fred," the SPARTAN greeted as he carried a crate by.

"Indeed. You do not seem surprised by my body. If I may ask, why is that?" EDI asked.

"Hell, I grew up with an AI so that doesn't bother me. As for the body, I wasn't expecting it but I'm a SPARTAN so I noticed it and accepted that that is how it is. If you prove a threat, unlikely but possible, I'll take out that body and then take out the core in all likelihood," Fred explained, surprising everyone.

"As an AI, it should be destroyed immediately. Unfortunately, the Commander does not believe me and insists on keeping it around," Javik commented with great disdain and annoyance.

"You would hate our ships. We use AIs on every single one of our ships to control the majority of functions. They can control almost everything in an emergency," Fred explained with an unseen smirk.

Javik just stared at him in shock and horror before looking out of the shuttle bay into the _Spirit of Fire_'s hangar. With a grunt of anger, he stalked into the elevator and disappeared.

Once all the crates were in, the group gathered around the tank.

"So… how are we going to get this in?" Vega asked.

"We're gonna throw it, Lieutenant. How did you think we were going to get it in?" Fred retorted.

"Sorry for wondering how it's going to fit. We're running out of space as it is," Vega defended himself, glancing into the almost-full shuttle bay.

"If we were to rearrange the crates slightly, the Scorpion would be able to go on port side of the shuttle bay, next to Lieutenant Vega's workout area," EDI suggested.

"That could work. If we move those crates to that corner by the weapons bench, we should be able to fit the tank in," Garrus agreed.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? The crates aren't gonna move themselves," Fred barked.

The organics groaned as they realised that, despite how easy it sounded, it was going to take them a while to move all the crates. Eventually they managed to move the crates out of the way and Fred was able to reverse the tank into the shuttle bay. They all let out sounds of relief once it became apparent that the tank was going to have space. As Fred climbed out of the tank, the lift doors slid open to reveal Diana Allers and her camera.

"I heard there was a SPARTAN down here. Could I ask you some questions?" Diana asked the hulking figure.

"Er, I guess," Fred agreed, as he'd been ordered to do in this situation.

The others in the shuttle bay sat down on crates nearby to listen to what the SPARTAN had to say whilst EDI stepped into the elevator and returned to the CIC.

"Excellent. So, what's it like as a SPARTAN? How does it compare to normal life?" Diana asked.

"Good question. I can't tell you because I didn't experience a normal life as you called it. I've been a SPARTAN or training to be a SPARTAN as long as I can remember," Fred explained.

"Really? If you don't mind my asking, what does your family think of this?" Diana continued.

"I can't comment in the case of my biological family, I don't remember them. In the case of what I consider my true family, they're also either SPARTANs or the ones who made us SPARTANs so I guess that's a moot point," the Commander remarked.

"But if you don't remember your biological family, how old were you when you started training?" the reporter asked, shocked.

"We were five or six years old when we started training. At first, we hated it but eventually it just became the norm. Eventually, we treated it like other kids treated their lives. We liked bits, we disliked bits and we didn't mind the rest of it. I'll admit that what was done was unethical but it worked so we don't complain," Fred elaborated with a shrug.

Everyone in the hangar stared at him in shock. After a moment, Diana seemed to snap out of it slightly.

"I'm sorry. This is a lot to take in all at once. Could we continue another time?" the reporter managed to stammer out.

"Sure. I'll probably be by the tank when you want to continue," Fred told her with a nod toward the tank.

The reporter nodded slightly before rushing to the lift and leaving. The others also went their separate ways, returning to their posts around the ship. Fred grabbed his duffle bag and disappeared into the elevator as well.

He returned a couple of minutes later dressed in more casual clothes. He sported a khaki t-shirt with the number 104 on either sleeve and the SPARTAN-II emblem on the left side of his chest as well as a pair of fingerless gloves. Black sweatpants and black combat boots comprised the rest of his outfit. He wandered over to the tank grabbed some tools and started climbing around on it, making adjustments.

When Shepard came down to speak to him, she found his legs sticking out from under the tank. She cleared her throat to let him know she was there, at which point a loud crack came from under the tank. The SPARTAN pulled himself out from under the tank and then sat back against it.

"I hope you coming to speak to me is worth it," he remarked, indicating the snapped screwdriver in his hands.

"Is the tank okay?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah, Scorpion's fine. Just adjusting a couple of things and making sure the thing will work flawlessly when the time comes," Fred explained.

"You must know a lot about that tank to be able to maintain it," Shepard commented.

"Vehicle maintenance was a part of the SPARTAN-II training program. All of us had an understanding of how to maintain and repair the vehicles used by the UNSC and it was our duty to make sure we kept up to date with that. When the UNSC became part of the CUFS, we also worked to master our allies' vehicles. As a result, any SPARTAN-II can maintain and repair any ground vehicle and most other vehicles in use by the CUFS, although we have a better understanding of the former-UNSC's vehicles," the SPARTAN told the Spectre.

"How long are you going to be with us, Fred?" the Spectre asked.

"At the moment, the plan is for me just to be with you until after the Genophage is cured. Once that is done, Cutter will make the decision on whether he needs me back or not," Fred shrugged.

"Glad to have you aboard, SPARTAN. I better go," Shepard said.

"See you 'round, Commander," Fred responded before grabbing a wrench and sliding back under the tank.

Shepard got back on the elevator, heading up to the CIC to plot a course for Tuchanka and the future of the krogan.


	33. Chapter 33

**Author's Note: Good day/night to you, readers. I seem to be on a bit of a role at the moment. Have another chapter, free of charge, courtesy of me. And yes, I have made the Krogan slightly smaller than they actually are, deal with it. Time to go run around on Tuchanka.**

**Onboard the **_**SSV Normandy SR2**_

"How's the tank?" Shepard asked the SPARTAN as they walked to the shuttle.

"Fine. She'll be ready for battle when we need her," Fred responded as he ducked into the shuttle.

"You look like you're struggling a bit there, SPARTAN," Wrex chuckled.

"These things aren't designed for SPARTANs and especially not SPARTAN-IIs. The SPARTAN-IVs are only about one metre ninety on average, so Alex wouldn't have struggled. I'm two metres seven out of armour and two metres seventeen in armour. Of course I'm gonna struggle. The only reason you lot don't hit your heads is because your two metre height is reached by your humps. Your heads are level with most others'," Fred retorted as he sat down.

Garrus and Liara chuckled as they followed the krogan into the shuttle. As Liara climbed in and the hatch slid shut Cortez lifted the shuttle of the shuttle bay floor and accelerated out of the _Normandy_. As they neared the ground, Wrex turned to everyone else.

"I've ordered the clans to assemble at the Hollows. It's our sacred meeting ground. We'll land there and take an armoured convoy against the Reaper. This will be the defining moment of krogan history," Wrex bragged.

"Krogan history filled with defining moments. Most bloody. Hope this one better," Mordin retorted.

Fred chuckled as Garrus and Liara laughed quietly. Wrex glared slightly at Mordin before walking into the cockpit. The female krogan, Eve, looked over to Commander Shepard.

"Commander, you seem troubled," she said.

"I got a message from the-" Shepard began.

She was interrupted as the shuttle bucked violently.

"Wrex, it's Wreav! The Reapers are already at the Hollows! Come out with guns blazing!" a krogan ordered over a comm. line.

"Hang on tight! We're heading in!" Cortez told them.

The team pulled out various weapons, with Fred reaching straight for his M45D shotgun. As soon as the hatch opened, a husk turned toward them. Wrex casually brought up his shotgun and shot the thing in the head before jumping out.

"Shepard, keep them away from the female! I'll sort out what's happening with the other clans!" Wrex shouted as he ran off.

As Shepard's team entered the main chamber, they found krogan locked in combat with the husks.

"Everyone pick your targets and keep an eye on our six! Now move!" Shepard ordered.

Fred sprinted down the stairs, blowing a husk's head off as he reached the bottom. He dived to the side as Garrus shouted a warning, allowing the turian to place a round through another husk's head. Fred shot another husk in the chest at point-blank range, sending it flying into another. One of the husks ran toward him and instead of shooting it, the SPARTAN swung at it with his fist, sending it crashing into a wall across the chamber.

He walked back over to Shepard as Wrex, Mordin and a group of krogan walked down the stairs.

"They'll sing battle-songs about this someday. Reaper blood has finally soaked our soil," Wrex shouted, to cheers from the surrounding krogan.

"We have to get to the Shroud. The airstrike is on its way," Shepard told the krogan clan leader.

"Female safe, Shepard. Vitals are strong," Mordin told them as he stepped forward.

"What's a salarian doing here? Nobody said anything about this," a krogan complained as he walked over accompanied by some others.

"Multiple krogan. Problematic," Mordin commented.

Fred took a slight step forward and placed the salarian slightly behind himself, earning a sneer from the other krogan.

"Who are you?" Shepard demanded.

"Urdnot Wreav, brood brother to our… illustrious leader," Wreav sneered, earning growls from some of the other krogan.

"Wreav and I share the same mother. And nothing else," Wrex snarled, sounding annoyed.

"For which I am thankful. I remember what it means to be a true krogan. We flay our enemies alive and drown them in a geyser of their own blood. We don't invite them into our home," Wreav growled arrogantly.

"This salarian is not your enemy. He's here to help cure the Genophage," Shepard attempted to explain.

"His kind gave us the Genophage! Why should we trust him?" Wreav shouted, advancing on Shepard.

Fred tensed, ready to pounce in an instant, his right hand on one of his combat knives. This was proven unnecessary as Wrex head butted his brother, causing the slightly smaller krogan to stagger back. A number of the krogan on Wrex's side chuckled.

"Because I do. And so will you, Wreav," Wrex told him.

The krogan standing with Wreav started growling and Wreav drew his shotgun, prompting Fred to tense once more.

"Enough!" shouted a female voice from the steps.

Everyone turned to look at Eve as she started to walk down the steps. The krogan on the balconies above leaned forward to see.

"You can stay here and let old wounds fester as krogan have always done or you can fight the enemy you were born to destroy - and win a new future for our children. I choose to fight. Who will join me?" Eve cried as she reached the central podium and turned to face the group at the base of the stairs.

"I will," Shepard stated, stepping forward.

"And so will I. Now hold your heads high like true krogan! There's a Reaper that needs killing!" Wrex shouted to cheers from the other krogan.

Wreav nodded once in agreement, causing more cheers. Fred glanced around as the krogan cried out in pleasure at the coming fights.

Within minutes, the krogan tomkahs, large six-wheeled tanks, were rolling down the damaged highway toward the Reaper. As they rolled along, a turian pilot contacted them.

"Krogan ground convoy, this is turian wing Artimec. Our flight vector to the Shroud is locked. We're ten minutes out and counting."

"Copy that, Artimec. We're on our way, trying to make up for lost time. Shepard out," Shepard responded.

"Wreav isn't the only krogan who wants revenge for the Genophage, Wrex. You'll have to placate them somehow," Eve pointed out.

"I'll demand that the Council return some of our old territory. We will need room to expand - recapture the glory of the ancients," Wrex told them.

"So-called glory of ancients led to Krogan Rebellions. Countless deaths. Creation of Genophage. Expansion plan… problematic," Mordin disagreed.

"What were the ancient krogan like?" Shepard asked.

"Tuchanka wasn't always a wasteland. In the old times the krogan were a proud people. We had dreams… a future to look forward to," Eve began.

"Until salarian interference," Mordin pointed out, sounding slightly embarrassed.

"No. We destroyed Tuchanka ourselves. Technology changed us. It made life too easy. So we looked for new challenges - and found them in each other. Nuclear war was inevitable," Eve explained.

"And now our planet is rubble. We'll need a better place to live," Wrex pointed out.

"I'd say helping defeat the Reapers would be worth a new planet," Shepard commented.

"Or ten. Even with the limits agreed upon with the Confederacy, we'll soon need more than one planet," Wrex retorted.

"Commander, on the shuttle - was there something you were going to say?" Eve asked Shepard.

"The dalatrass tried to cut a secret deal with me," Shepard said after a moment.

"What kind of deal?" Wrex prompted.

"She said they sabotaged the Shroud years ago. The cure won't work unless we fix it," Shepard explained before starting a recording.

"Years ago, our operatives sabotaged the Shroud facility to ensure what you're planning couldn't be done," Dalatrass Linron's voice said in the recording.

"And she thought we wouldn't know better?" Wrex snarled.

"Correctly. Would likely have fooled tests. But am familiar with STG work. Can adjust. Did not come this far for nothing," Mordin chattered.

"You just spared our race another genocide, Commander," Eve commented gratefully.

"I told you we could count on her," Wrex remarked.

The tomkah they were riding in started to slow down, causing the group to exchange looks.

"Why are we stopping?" Wrex asked, standing up.

Shepard climbed out of the tomkah before being joined by his team from the next one. They looked up toward the Shroud, which stuck up into the sky, looking similar to a huge needle.

"Wrex, you and Mordin stay with Eve. It's looking ugly out here!" Shepard told the krogan.

"Will do," Wrex agreed.

The team walked over to a krogan scout looking out over a gap in the road.

"What's the holdup?" Shepard asked the scout.

"Road's out. The convoy can't make it through," the scout explained.

"Turian wing Artimec, this is Shepard. We've been delayed - hold off your attack," Shepard ordered, walking back toward the tomkahs.

"Negative, Commander. Our approach is locked. The Reaper already knows we're here!" a pilot informed the Commander.

"Those fighters won't do anything to that Reaper. We have to get to that fight," Fred commented.

As they watched, the turian fighters swooped in and started firing on the Reaper. Shepard turned to the scout once more.

"I don't care if we have to build a new road! We're going!" she ordered.

"Shepard! Look out!" Garrus shouted, prompting her to look toward the battle.

One of the turian fighters was spiralling toward the road, spewing smoke as it went. It collided with the road, destroying two tomkahs and damaging a third.

"Shepard, what's happening?" Wrex shouted over the comm.

"Wrex, get the female out of here now! Go!" Shepard ordered.

The remaining tomkahs raced off, wheels bouncing over rubble as they went.

"Artimec, do you copy?" Shepard shouted into the radio.

"We have to abort, Commander! That Reaper's tearing us to pieces!" one of the pilots responded.

"Understood! Save your pilots - we'll find another way!" Shepard told him.

"There's a tunnel over there! Could be a way off!" Liara shouted, pointing to the other side of the road.

The team ran in and, after a conversation with Wrex and Eve, established that they were in the city of the ancients and had no maps of the place. The team made their way through the tunnels, despite numerous powerful tremors. When they made it outside, they were greeted by some kind of large courtyard with actual plant life.

The group started to make their way across toward the road where they would meet up with the tomkahs again. Halfway across the courtyard, weapons fire erupted from ahead of them.

"Hostiles, dead ahead," Fred shouted, running toward a small wall closer to the Reaper soldiers.

Fred pulled out his MA5D assault rifle and started peppering the Reaper soldiers with bullets. One of the ravagers approached his cover in an effort to catch him off guard but the SPARTAN was ready for it. As it approached, Fred dropped his rifle, drew the combat knife from his right shoulder guard, pulled the ravager over his cover by one of its cannons before plunging the blade into the blue circle on the things head. He grabbed his assault rifle again and helped mop up the remaining Reaper soldiers.

Upon attempting to continue, more Reaper soldiers showed up. One such soldier was a brute, an overgrown fusion of turians and krogan. It charged the group prompting them to dive out of the way. The brute charged past them all before turning and roaring at them.

"Shepard! Keep the little ones off my back! I'll handle the big guy!" Fred shouted, switching his assault rifle for his shotgun.

The brute charged again, missing everyone once more. This time, whilst the rest of the team dealt with the smaller soldiers, Fred charged after it. As he ran, he pumped all the shells he could into the thing before he ran out of shells. Instead of reloading, the SPARTAN stowed the shotgun on his back and drew his knives.

With a crash of metal-on-metal, the SPARTAN collided with the brute. The force being applied by the charging SPARTAN forced the three-ton brute back, through a wall and onto a bridge just as the tomkahs came into view. The SPARTAN released the brute, allowing it to slide another couple of metres as he flipped his knives into a reverse grip. The brute roared as it stood up and swung its claw arm at the SPARTAN. Fred ducked under the arm before stepping forward, driving his left-hand knife into some pipes and wires on the beast's claw arm while the other slashed across its chest.

Fred leapt back as the brute tried to smack him again, fluids leaking from the pipes on its claw and the slash across its chest. He ran at it once more, leaping onto its claw arm as it swung at him and using it to launch himself over its head. The SPARTAN landed behind the brute before leaping once more, this time sinking his left-hand blade into the brutes shoulder, causing it to roar in pain. He used this to pull himself up higher onto its back before bringing his right-hand knife down to the front of the pipes and wires connecting the head to the body. Fred pulled the knife out of the beasts shoulder, allowing his own weight to pull the other knife through its "neck", decapitating it.

As it collapsed, the rest of Shepard's team approached and were greeted with the sight of the olive-green armour spattered with blue, yellow and white fluids. The SPARTAN-II casually flicked his combat knives, removing the fluids from them before sheathing them.

"Did you just kill that brute with knives?" Garrus asked, in disbelief.

"Yup," Fred said.

"That was incredible! We could see that fight from here!" Wrex shouted over the radio.

"Get down here, Shepard. Need to get to Shroud quickly," Mordin added, just as there was a huge tremor.

"It's Kalros!" Wrex shouted as the back of a giant thresher maw emerged from the ground behind the tomkahs.


	34. Chapter 34

**Author's Note: Hello, everyone. Sorry about the lack of updates, studying for exams is consuming all my time at the moment. Now, for the sake of moving the story along, we will proceed to the Citadel…**

**Onboard the **_**SSV Normandy SR2**_

"Come on!" Cortez groaned.

Fred looked up from the work he was doing on the Scorpion. Cortez was standing next to the controls for the shuttle's crane, which were apparently being uncooperative.

"Of all the times to stop working, it would be when I need to repair something underneath," Cortez grumbled.

"If you can get it down, I'll hold it up for you," Fred offered, walking over to him.

"Are you sure? I mean, I know you're strong but that shuttle weighs about twenty tonnes," Cortez warned.

"Don't worry about it. Just get it down," Fred told him.

"OK then but I warned you," Cortez replied, shaking his head.

Tapping a few buttons on the console, the Kodiak dropped to the deck with a clang. Fred walked over to it, crouched down and slid his fingers underneath the shuttle. With a grunt, he lifted the shuttle up until it was sitting at roughly sixty degrees from the deck. James Vega and Cortez just stared at the SPARTAN, who was now supporting the shuttle with one hand.

"I thought you needed to fix something?" Fred remarked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Cortez answered, still awed by the display of strength.

For the next few minutes, the SPARTAN stood there and held the shuttle up, allowing Cortez to work on its belly whilst the three men chatted. When Shepard stepped into the hangar, she froze at the sight of Fred casually supporting this twenty tonne Kodiak shuttle whilst chatting with the other two. Once she got over her shock, she proceeded to cross the shuttle bay to the three men.

"What's happening here?" she asked as she approached.

"Not much just trading stories from our childhoods. Fred was just about to tell us one," Vega informed her.

"Right. So, there's seventy-five of us, all about nine years old or so, right? And we've got to run an obstacle course. Easy enough, we'd done the same obstacle course numerous times before. Thing was we'd never done it under fire," Fred starts.

"No way? You were getting shot at whilst running an obstacle course when you were _nine_? That's insane!" Vega interrupts.

"Not really. It's good practice and it was only paintballs but that's not the point of the story. So we're running the course and then one of the guys somehow manages to run into one of the climbing walls. And I mean _run_. He smacked into it so hard, everyone within twenty metres heard him. He landed flat on his back; everyone's stopped and is crowding around by the time the trainers get there. When he gets there, Mendez, the head trainer, asks him if everything's OK. The guy just lies there, looks at everyone and then says 'I think I've broken something'. Everyone gets really worried and keeps trying to work out what he's broken. Then, all of us realise what he's broken," Fred says, grinning.

"Why, what did he break?" Cortez asks, glancing up from the shuttle.

"The guy is sitting there, all of us crowded around him and Mendez crouched next to him, with one half of a datapad in each hand. It takes all of us a second to realise that it's not just any datapad but is in fact Mendez' datapad. The guy's gone and nicked Mendez' datapad and then had it in his pocket whilst running the course. Other than a couple of cuts that he got off glass from the screen, he's perfectly fine. And then Mendez assigns him triple chores," Fred finishes with a chuckle.

Vega's sitting on a nearby crate laughing his head off whilst Cortez laughs as he continues to work on the shuttle. Shepard cracks a smile whilst shaking her head slightly.

"What about you, Commander? Got any stories to share?" Vega asked once he recovered.

"Well, there is one, although I'm not sure how it compares. When I was eight, my mum served on the cruiser, the _SSV Paris_. Whilst on patrol in a remote system, I got bored of sitting around in the mess so I wandered off. No one minded because I often did that and everyone liked me and kept an eye on me if they saw me," Shepard began.

"Seriously? You lived on a starship?" Vega asked.

"Yeah. I grew up in the Navy. Where my mum went, I went and everyone always looked out for me and taught me things. But that's a story for another time. So I'm wandering around and then I end up in the hangar. Now, because I'm often wandering around and always eager to learn about what goes on onboard the ship, I know my way around some of the equipment. So when I see these two guys struggling with a crate, I toddle over to the crane controls and, after a couple of tries, manage to use the crane to grab the crate. Needless to say the two guys were quite surprised when the crate seemed to float out of their grip. When they realised what had happened, they were both really embarrassed that they hadn't thought of using the crane," Shepard concluded.

Vega was once again sitting on his crate laughing his head off whilst Cortez laughed as he stood up from where he was working on the shuttle. Fred let out a chuckle as he lowered the shuttle to the ground once Cortez was out of the way.

"Thanks for the help, Fred. I don't want to think about what could have happened if we'd gone out with the shuttle as damaged as that section was," Cortez remarked with a shudder.

"No problem. If you need me to do so again, just ask," Fred responded as he walked back to the tank and tuned out the rest of the conversation between the other three.

After a while, Shepard spoke over the intercom.

"The Citadel is under attack. Ground team, prepare for combat, we go down in ten," Shepard ordered.

Fred raced to the elevator and went to put on his armour. When he came back into the shuttle bay, he found the rest of the ground team already assembled. As they climbed into the shuttle, Shepard explained the situation.

"Cerberus Separatists have attacked the Citadel. They've taken C-Sec's headquarters and are attacking across the station. Without their headquarters relaying orders, C-Sec is in disarray. They're trying their best but they just can't mount an effective defence. That is where we come in. We're going to go help C-Sec retake their headquarters and then see what needs to be done," Shepard informed the team as the shuttle flew towards the C-Sec HQ.

As soon as the shuttle doors opened the team leapt into action. Whilst Shepard, Garrus and Javik stayed in the middle and drew the majority of the fire, Liara and James up the left side and Fred and EDI went up the right. Fred laid down some suppressing fire with his assault rifle while EDI fired accurate shots at the Separatists. One of the Separatist Guardians managed to get closer but was stopped when Fred drew one of his pistols and shot him through the slit in the shield. He reloaded his assault rifle and resumed suppressing the enemies. EDI moved around to flank them, catching them from the right. Within moments, the last of the hostiles fell when EDI put a bullet between his eyes at point-blank range.

The two proceeded to the door where the rest of the team had just started talking with Bailey.

"Shepard. I saw those Cerberus troops on you. I thought you were done for," Bailey commented.

"Bailey? What are you doing here?" Shepard asked.

"Getting my ass shot off trying to retake headquarters. Cerberus took it in the first push. We gotta kick them out of there. Everyone in C-Sec's flying blind without the network," Bailey told them.

"How bad's the situation? Do you know if the Councillors are alive?" Garrus asked.

"They split up. I'll know more if I can access a terminal inside," Bailey stated.

"Can you get us in?" Shepard asked.

"I'll get the door. If no one interrupts me with a bullet this time," Bailey joked as he opened the door.

Shepard's team entered first, weapons ready. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Bailey sat down behind the desk.

"Here we go. C-Sec network access, courtesy of Cerberus," Bailey remarked.

"How's that going to help?" queried Shepard.

"Cerberus has control of the main channels, but I can set up a new one. Without it, our people have no plan and no chance. Hello…" Bailey said as he typed.

"What have you got?" Shepard asked as she walked over to him.

"A warning from Councillor Valern. He's supposed to be here, meeting with the executor," Bailey said.


End file.
